Читать книгу Hike the Parks: Acadia National Park - Jeff Romano - Страница 29

As Mount Desert Island’s popularity increased, public access to the region’s mountains, forests, and shoreline became more tenuous. In response, a growing number of people saw land conservation as necessary to protect the area’s heritage. They worked to find a balance between development and public access to the island’s spectacular natural features.

The Eliots. As the turn of the twentieth century approached, Charles Eliot, a summer resident, grew concerned that private ownership could mean the end of public access to the region’s unique natural features. He saw this potential as a loss not only to the state’s heritage but also to its future prosperity. Charles died at the young age of thirty-eight in 1897, but his father Charles W. Eliot was inspired by his son’s writings. In 1901, he led the effort to establish the Hancock County Trustees of Reservation.

Hancock County Trustees of Reservation. This conservation organization grew naturally out of a movement that began in the 1880s when summer residents formed village improvement associations focused on sanitation, community gatherings, and the construction of hiking trails. The next step was “acquiring, owning and holding lands and other property in Hancock County for free public use.” This was Maine’s conservation movement in its infancy.

George B. Dorr. Not surprisingly, the effort to preserve land on Mount Desert Island took time and faced roadblocks. Landowners were skeptical of selling or donating their properties. Town officials raised concerns about property tax losses. George B. Dorr emerged as the most vocal land conservation champion. He effectively made the case for land protection at the local, state, and federal levels. This mission would consume the final forty-three years of his life.

Sieur de Monts National Monument. Thanks to the leadership of the Eliots, George Dorr, and others, by 1913 the Hancock County Trustees of Reservation had acquired more than 5000 acres (2000 hectares). Dorr traveled to Washington, DC, and offered this land to the federal government, and in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson accepted the land, declaring it Sieur de Monts National Monument.