peakbagger
In Rembrance , July 2024
I moved up to the area in 1987 with the prior couple of years in the midwest and previous to that at UMaine Orono. For those familiar with UMO its in its own world so I would not have heard of a proposed Kilkenny Wilderness. So I need to qualify my statement that I have not heard a Kilkenny Wilderness proposal since I moved up here.
I expect in 1983 there would have been significant local opposition to a designation as the Kilkenny's were part of the wood basket for Brown Co/JR pulp and paper mills in Berlin/Gorham, and the two mills in Groveton. The pulp and paper industry was still on a roll at that time. Things nosedived in the 90s and expect these days there would be less opposition. The Groveton Mills are gone, Berlin is a biomass burner with plenty of low grade wood from elsewhere and the Gorham operation is a much smaller strictly papermill buying purchased pulp from elsewhere. As an aside long before anyone of us were probably around was the establishment of the WMNF boundary. I have always felt that Brown Co had significant influence where the line was located along the ridgeline east of Bog Dam Loop valley and south of the Mahoosucs but have never seen a good reference on this obviously potentially contentious effort. Nature abhors a vacuum and now that Dillon is slowly selling their assets after stripping them, Yale under the guise of Bayroot is grabbing what they can and selling parcels with higher conservation value to the Mahoosuc Land Trust .
I expect in 1983 there would have been significant local opposition to a designation as the Kilkenny's were part of the wood basket for Brown Co/JR pulp and paper mills in Berlin/Gorham, and the two mills in Groveton. The pulp and paper industry was still on a roll at that time. Things nosedived in the 90s and expect these days there would be less opposition. The Groveton Mills are gone, Berlin is a biomass burner with plenty of low grade wood from elsewhere and the Gorham operation is a much smaller strictly papermill buying purchased pulp from elsewhere. As an aside long before anyone of us were probably around was the establishment of the WMNF boundary. I have always felt that Brown Co had significant influence where the line was located along the ridgeline east of Bog Dam Loop valley and south of the Mahoosucs but have never seen a good reference on this obviously potentially contentious effort. Nature abhors a vacuum and now that Dillon is slowly selling their assets after stripping them, Yale under the guise of Bayroot is grabbing what they can and selling parcels with higher conservation value to the Mahoosuc Land Trust .
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