Baxter State Park

While the Adirondack Park is the largest park in the US, and constitute most of the wilderness land east of the Mississippi, other places have shared in the Adirondack vision.  Baxter State Park in Maine is one of the clearest examples of such a park.   The park encompasses Katahdin and over 200,000 acres of the Maine wilderness. Diverse flora and fauna are plentiful and thousands visit the park every year. At the same time some of the park is harvested and controlled thru forestry. This combination puts the park in an interesting place. Not only is it a place for recreation but it is a place for industry and forestry as well. Therefore, the carefully planned combination of forestry and the Adirondack vision of recreation create a park experience as unique and important as the Adirondacks themselves.

Baxter Park’s forestry program is an integral part of the park. Nearly 30,000 of the parks 200,000 are a Scientific Forest Management Area (Park Authority).  The management of the area has a number of wide reaching goals including, “protecting water quality, protecting biodiversity, providing wildlife habitat, and enabling a sustained harvest of forest products” (Ibid). Clearly, this is similar to the Adirondacks original goal of preserving the park so that it could be used for industry. However, this version might be so successful because only such a small portion of the park is committed to this purpose.

This park also has a wide array of recreational opportunities.  The park has 40 peaks and 215 miles of trails (Ibid). The peak of Katahdin, is also the Northern terminus of the Appalachian trail and the terminus of the 100 mile wildness. Furthermore, bears and moose and a wide variety of tree species populate the park. Just like the Adirondacks, thousands of people come every year to enjoy the natural beauty of the park. And, just like the Adirondacks, people come to hike conquer the difficult terrain of the park’s peaks. Nineteen people have died trying to hike the Katahdin’s knife’s edge since 1963 (Sharp, 2010). Clearly, Baxter state park is enjoyed for the same reasons as the Adirondacks and is just as dangerous.   

Katahdin from a distance

The park was also created with a very similar vision. Percival Baxter, whose helped create the park declared that the park, “shall forever be retained and used for state forest, public park and recreational purposes” (Park Authority). This language is extremely similar to the language in the New York constitution about protecting the Adirondacks. It is very likely that the Adirondacks inspired the creation of such a similar park. Clearly the Adirondacks serve as force for good and has inspired conservation across the country.

Works Cited

"About." BSP. Web. 05 Apr. 2016.

Sharp, David. "Stupid Decision' Left Hiker Lost, Injured on Maine's Mt. Katahdin." Salem News. 03 June 2010. Web. 5 Apr. 2016.