Under the best of circumstances development at high elevations is problematic. An industrial development of this magnitude, in this landscape, is beyond problematic–it is unthinkable. It would forever change the character of one of Maine’s most spectacular natural landscapes.

The Appalachian Mountain Club and all of the groups here today believe that this project is clearly inconsistent with the goals and policies outlined in LURC’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan.

My goal is to give you an overview of the region and why it is absolutely the wrong place for a project of this magnitude, no matter what benefits it might provide.

Maine’s Western High Mountains region stretching from Saddleback to Bigelow is, along with Baxter State Park, one of the state’s two pre-eminent mountain areas.

* Within this region lie 10 of the state’s 14 peaks above 4,000 feet, and the largest contiguous expanse of land above 2,700’.
* Outside of Baxter State Park, it encompasses the greatest collection of large roadless areas, and the greatest extent of alpine vegetation, in the state.
* It is traversed by one of the most remote and magnificent stretches of the entire Appalachian Trail, a part of the nation’s National Park system.

One can easily envision an alternate history in which Percival Baxter chose this region rather than Mount Katahdin as a focus for his conservation efforts. It is a distinctive natural asset of great ecological and economic value to both the local region and the state.

The Redington Pond Range is not a minor ridge of no particular value. Rather it is one of the state’s highest summits and an integral part of this landscape. It possesses a combination of characteristics shared by only a small number of the state’s mountains, and it is this combination of values, not any particular value in isolation, that makes it particularly unsuitable for development.

* Redington is a wild and unfragmented 4,000’ peak lying near the heart of the region, along a roadless high elevation corridor stretching for over 17 miles from Route 4 to Route 16.
* Much of the project area on Redington lies above 3,500’ in elevation. Land above 3500’ comprises just 1/20 of 1% of the state’s land area, but is among the most sensitive and fragile parts of the landscape.
* The entire Redington ridgeline is classified as an exemplary occurrence of a rare subalpine forest community by the Maine Natural Areas Program. Not only are these forests rare because of the very limited extent of high-elevation land, but this is one of the best examples in the state.
* These subalpine forests provide high-quality habitat for Bicknell’s thrush – one of the rarest migratory songbirds in the Northeast. In particular, Redington lies within one of the most important core breeding areas for Bicknell’s in the state.
* It is one of only five places in the state where the northern bog lemming, perhaps the state’s rarest mammal, has been found.
* The ridgelines of both Redington Pond Range and Black Nubble are visually prominent features from long stretches of the Appalachian Trail and Mount Abraham, including many areas above treeline. They are a critical element of a remote backcountry recreation experience that is exceedingly rare, not only in the state, but in the entire eastern United States.

The combination of elevation above 3500’, the presence of a rare natural community, and close proximity to the Appalachian Trail is shared by only a small number of the state’s most iconic mountains – places with names like Goose Eye, Mahoosuc, Old Speck, Saddleback, Abraham, Crocker, Bigelow, Whitecap and Katahdin. Of these, only Redington is not protected through conservation ownership. It may be less well known, but it is no less worthy of protection. It is exactly the type of place that LURC’s Protected Mountain Area (P-MA) zoning subdistrict is designed to protect. It is absolutely the wrong place for a massive construction project that would carve miles of road equivalent in width to a two-lane state highway into steep slopes to the top of a 4,000’ mountain.

The Appalachian Mountain Club has a strong appreciation for the damage that climate change and air pollution can do to the region’s mountains. We recognize the need to expand our use of renewable energy. We support the development of windpower in our region, and are not opposed to windpower development in Maine’s mountains or in Protected Mountain Area zones. Of the dozen or so windpower projects that have been proposed for ridgelines in New England, this is the only one we have opposed. We believe that there are other areas within the jurisdiction that are far more appropriate for this type of development. If the number of suitable sites in the state is truly so small that an area as sensitive as Redington must be developed, then windpower has no future in Maine, and the various public policies intended to promote it are exercises in futility. We do not believe this to be true.

If the goals and policies of the Comprehensive Land Use Plan, as well as Protected Mountain Area zoning, are intended to protect any mountain area, they are intended to protect a place as significant as Redington. So we ask the Commission: if the Redington Pond Range does not qualify for protection under these policies, then what area would?

We urge the Commission to reject this application.

11,000

APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN CLUB, founded in 1876, is the oldest conservation and recreation organization in the United States. With 90,000 members in the Northeast and beyond, the nonprofit AMC promotes the protection, enjoyment and wise use of the mountains, rivers and trails of the Appalachian region. For information on AMC's wind power siting research, see: www.outdoors.org/conservation.

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info@maineaudubon.org

Elyse Tipton
Communications Director
(207) 781-2330 x229

Andrew Colvin
Communications Coordinator
(207) 781-2330 x241