Explore Maine: The Moosehead Region

Follow-up to Sandra’s Presentation at the Natural Resources Council of Maine’s August 16 Webinar

Check out her full post on the Moosehead Region

What barriers separate conservation from economic planning?  

There is profound ignorance about how our woods, waters, and wildlife habitat comprise a multibillion-dollar asset that will deliver forever if we manage mindless sprawl, inventory a region’s prize assets, and use conservation strategies.  

Conservation organizations are either not doing the economic research that state and federal agencies have ignored, or they are not doing necessary outreach. (Being “green” does not mean they should avoid the . . . green.)  

Maine lacks any state agency that combines conservation with the recreation economy. The Maine Office of Tourism does marketing and analysis. The Maine Office of Outdoor Recreation has no conservation organizations on its partner list and says it “leverages Maine’s assets and outdoor recreation heritage to grow the outdoor recreation economy.” Hmmn . . . thinking that ‘leveraging’ is a financial transaction, not a strategy to preserve the goose that lays the golden recreational economy’s eggs.

Maine’s tourism businesses that depend on outdoor recreation, large and small, are marketing experts. They know what outdoor assets and landscapes bring guests to their doors, but they’re busy making a living or just surviving . . . or they’ve lost hope that Maine’s tourism and resource agencies will show up to help secure a future for those assets. There is a need for an enduring partnership between these business experts and conservation entities, whether they are NGOs or agencies charged with resource management.

Some examples of nature-based tourism’s economic strength.

Wildlife delivers $1.4 billion to Maine’s economy; $1.9 billion including multipliers.  (For perspective, snowmobiling, a significant economic contributor, is about $459 million.)

For every $1 spent to acquire a Land for Maine’s Future conservation site, $11 is returned in goods and services to Maine’s economy. (Moosehead Lake’s Mt. Kineo and its trails were its first acquisition. Think how much economic activity Kineo generates because it has no "No Trespassing” signs.) 

Acadia National Park generates $3,400 per acre in goods and services. (Actively managed forest-land’s economic contribution is about $368 an acre. How much per acre do Moosehead’s outdoor assets deliver? What if we lose hundreds of economically productive acres to sprawl and inappropriate development?) 

(More here) 

And, here’s my most recent author newsletter.