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The East-West Corridor/Highway
Jym St. Pierre, Director, RESTORE! The Northwoods
Wednesday, February 13, 7:00 p.m.
Curtis Memorial Library, Brunswick
Join Friends of Merrymeeting Bay (FOMB) on Wednesday, February 13 at 7pm for the 5th presentation of their 16th annual Winter Speaker Series. This program, “The East-West Corridor/Highway”, features Director of RESTORE! The Northwoods, Jym St. Pierre.
Like Dracula, the threat of an East-West Highway and Corridor keeps coming back to life in Maine. This time the Corridor champion is Peter Vigue, CEO of the large construction company Cianbro. Despite the allure to Cianbro of a privately owned toll superhighway bisecting northern Maine from Calais to Coburn Gore, there are no shortages of objections. A large populist population in northern Maine is concerned about a possible land grab using eminent domain to support a corporate scheme, conservationists and native tribes are concerned about impacts on wildlife and air and water resources. In Canada, a major super highway section would also need to be built in order to connect the East-West Corridor with its terminus in Montreal. This and a larger border crossing at Coburn Gore would violate with light pollution, the world’s first International Dark Sky Reserve surrounding Canada’s most important observatory only 14 air miles from the border crossing. Limited access across the highway would be a major impediment both to tourists, locals and wildlife. Common sense can take a back seat to moneyed politics. How many stakes have been driven through the heart of Dracula?
Jym St. Pierre is a photographer, activist and long-time director of RESTORE: The North Woods. RESTORE was founded in 1992 by conservationists who wanted to go beyond endless damage control, to begin restoring the health of entire landscapes. RESTORE focuses on action, not bureaucracy and works to revive the grassroots spirit that led to the great conservation victories of the past. RESTORE provides leadership for positive change through three major campaigns: (1) creation of a 3.2-million-acre Maine Woods National Park; (2) recovery of the extirpated and imperiled wildlife, including the eastern timber wolf, Canada lynx, and Atlantic salmon; and (3) recovery and protection of wild forests in New England.
The FOMB Winter Speaker Series takes place monthly from October-May on the second Wednesday. The series, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by Friends of Merrymeeting Bay with support and valuable door prizes from Patagonia Outlet in Freeport. The next FOMB presentation on March 13th at the Curtis Memorial Library, Brunswick is entitled Archaeology of Ft. Richmond and features Leith Smith, historic archaeologist with the Maine Historic Preservation Commission
Sarah Stapler