Restore The North Woods Inc

Programs: Maine woods national park & preserve(mwnp) - in 1994, restore launched a campaign to create a maine woods national park & preserve. Inspired by our vision, over the past two decades philanthropist roxanne quimby acquired properties valued at 60 million. In august 2016, ms. Quimby advanced our park vision by donating 87,500 acres to the department of interior and pledging 40 million for stewardship. President obama immediately designated the lands as a new katahdin woods and waters national monument. Restore participated in public listening sessions held by the national park service; submitted comments on the management plan process; visited the monument in summer, fall and winter; created a popular visitor's guide; and presented a powerpoint slide show about the new national monument.

new national parks - more people visited our national parks in 2016 than ever before, thanks in part to the centennial of the national park service in august. During fiscal year 2017, as part of our new national parks campaign, restore continued our work to build a nationwide movement to support individual national park initiatives, bring together a grassroots parks coalition, and rally broad public support for new parks.

maine environmental news - we accepted ownership of the maine environmental news website (www. Maineenvironews. Com) and continued to maintain it as the most comprehensive compilation of online conservaton and natural resource news in maine. We have added links on the website to more than 50,000 news articles, events and announcements, including several thousand new postings in fiscal year 2017.

maine woods threats - while much of restore's work focuses on implementing positive change, it is essential to stand up against environmentally destructive plans and proposals. We updated our map featuring 20 major threats to the ecological integrity and recreational traditions of the maine woods, including misplaced developments, excessive logging, dangerous energy projects, and a disastrous mining proposal for northern maine. We also prepared a maine woods threats powerpoint slideshow. Maine paper mills - for generations, the forest products industry was a backbone of the economy of maine and the northeast. However, it is experiencing massive changes, which have big implications for our work on conservation of wildlands and wildlife. In fiscal year 2017, we updated our comprehensive map summarizing the status of pulp and paper mills in maine. State public lands - in 1999, restore launched a coalition to defend the wild character of the allagash wilderness waterway. During fiscal year 2017, we monitored meetings of the state-chartered allagash council. We also worked to defend state forests in maine and massachusetts from unsustainable logging. Bioenergy - pressure is increasing to chip more forests in the northeastern u. S. To feed biomass energy plants in north america and europe that burn trees to create electricity and heat. Many citizens and politicians think this is wise, but scientific evidence shows it is harmful to good forest management and it exacerbates the problems of global climate disruption. In fiscal year 2017, restore worked with the partnership for policy integrity think tank and others to research the problems of, and to push back against the threats presented by, woody bioenergy. Wildlife - for a quarter century, restore has been a leading voice for protecting wildlife, especially significant habitats and imperiled species. During fiscal year 2017, we continued coordinating with the national endangered species coalition and northeast wolf coalition to defend imperiled species and habitats. Environmental legislation - during fiscal year 2017, restore participated in the maine environmental priorities coalition, which informs citizens and lawmakers in maine about the importance of maintaining strong environmental protection programs. Notably, we supported a bill to create the strongest mining regulations in the country, and we opposed legislation damaging to public forests and land conservation funding.