The idea of establishing a Maine Woods National Park has sparked conflict in the Katahdin area since it was first introduced almost 20 years ago. On Thursday, the man who oversees the park service came to Millinocket to witness the debate first hand. U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says he hasn't taken a position on a second national park in Maine. But his mere presence suggests that, despite widespread opposition from elected officials and others, the federal government is willing to explore the possibility.

Secretary Salazar planned to begin his listening session at 4:30 sharp at the local high school. But his plane touched down late at the Millinocket Regional Airport. So the two sides in this fight used the delay to--well, fight, out on the sidewalk.

Mike Mayhew: "I mean, I think we've got to shift the economy. It's shifting on us."

Jimmy Busque: "No. There's no reason we can't have a forest economy. We're sittin' here next to, over two million acres. Preservationists are destroying this state."

Mayhew: "Well, yes and..nah, no."

Mike Mayhew held a poster, with the words "Maine Woods National Park, Yes!" written below two picturesque photos of moose on the move. Jimmy Busque, a Millinocket town councilor, got laid off when the paper mill shut down.

Busque: "You can't cut wood in National Parks."

Mayhew: "You can do it in White Mountain National Forest."

Busque: "It's a forest! She wants a park."

Mayhew: "Who knows what she wants?"

Busque: "Are you up on what she wants?"

Mayhew: "Yes I am."

Busque: "Well, evidently not--she wants a national park."

She, of course, is Roxanne Quimby, wealthy founder of Burt's Bees and land conservationist. Quimby wants to give 70,000 pristine acres between Baxter State Park and the east branch of the Penobscot River to the federal goverment for a national park.

A map, with Quimby's proposed donation highlighted in red, sat on a easel, when Interior Secretary Ken Salazar finally arrived from the airport and walked out in front of the packed auditorium at Stearns High School. Salazar began by paying homage to his own rural background as a farmer in Colorado.

"You know, I've always said to people, 'You look at my hands. And if you look closely, you'll see that the callouses from my hands have never disappeared,'" he said.

Salazar, casual in jeans, button down shirt and baseball cap, told the crowd he understood the economic turmoil in Millinocket, the mill closures, the job losses, all the hardship. "So we're here to lay out some options for you."

Those options include a feasibility study on a national park, a years-long process that would require an act of Congress. Or Salazar himself could order a reconnaissance study, a quick, $25,000 survey of whether it makes sense to move forward.
The secretary sought to reassure the crowd. "What I really want to do is engage in a conversation with you where I hear from you. I don't have a conclusion, OK? And it may that at the end of this meeting, we'll walk away."

Salazar's soothing tone, though, did little to temper the anger and distrust of the federal govenment, felt by many in the hall. State Sen. Doug Thomas rose a few feet from Salazar and introduced the local elected officials sitting around him.

"We'd like to be part of this process and we feel that you have left us out, and that we are not going to be included. And we're curious who you consulted with before you came and who invited you," Thomas said, sparking applause.

"Well, Senator, let me just say that I invited myself," Salazar replied.

For the next hour, Salazar veered from opponents to supporters and supporters to opponents, back and forth, fielding questions. Bob Goldman, who wants a national park, told the secretary about getting off the trail after a recent backpacking trip in Yellowstone.

"I ended up sleeping in my car because even though there's thousands of motels, hotels and campgrounds, June 15th I slept in my car cause there was no room for me," Goldman said. "Now don't tell me that this area does not need this kind of economic activity."

Opponents, too, cited economics. Cheryl Russell, a logging contractor, told Salazar of trying to help loggers in the 1990s in Kalispell, Montana, near Glacier National Park. "And I saw the devastation that that National Park had on the logging community. For the logging contractors who had the opportunity to work in and around the park, the permitting process was insurmountable. It was undependable."

Salazar closed the meeting by trying to address the greatest fear of many people in the region. "That there's somebody, some Goliath from somewhere, some unknown federal bureaucrat, going to come down here and is going to impose a 10 million acre park that's going to kick out the community and its way of life. That's ain't going to happen, OK? Because the law won't let it happen."

It's possible, of course, that a serious discussion about the contours of a national park here might never happen. Maine's two Republican Senators, the Democratic Congressman who represents the area, the state Legislature and scores of local elected officials have all expressed deep skepticism about a park. It's hard to imagine anything moving forward in the face of such opposition.