Obama Preserves 87,000 Acres Of Maine Wilderness

The U.S. National Park Service (NPS) has turned 100 years old. President Barack Obama and a charitable philanthropist have handed the agency a big birthday present: designating Maine’s Katahdin Woods as protected territory.

The national parks system marked its centennial on Aug. 25. To honor the agency’s pursuit of preserving wildlife for a century, the White House has announced that $60 million worth of land in Maine will now be under government protection, Business Insider reports.

The 87,500 acres, known as the Katahdin Woods, were previously owned by Roxanne Quimby, the co-founder of Burt’s Bees. In addition to the land donation, Quimby will also be providing the U.S. government an $20 million operations and maintenance endowment and plans on raising an additional $20 million for preservation.

The region is visited by 3 million tourists annually and provides visitors with camping spots and hiking trails. It will become the first national park monument to allow hunting, although bears will be off-limits.

NPS will manage the region and work to preserve local wildlife and fauna. The 87,500 acres are among the last waths of wilderness remaining in the U.S., meaning that Katahdin Woods could prove to be the last national park established on the East Coast.

In an official statement, the White House announced the hope that the new park “will reinforce the need to continue protecting our great outdoors as we enter the second century of the National Park Service.”

A recent study conducted by Colorado State University and Harvard University found that the NPS is worth $92 billion, according to Forbes.

To help Americans celebrate their centennial, all NPS sites will be free of admission from Aug. 25-28, Sept. 24 and Nov. 11.

On Aug. 25, Secretary of the Department of the Interior Sally Jewell, who overlooks the NPS, reflected on the agency’s century of preservation in an interview with The Washington Post.

“When you have a milestone like a century of work, it is a great opportunity to shine a spotlight on what’s happened over the last 100 years and think about what’s necessary for the next 100 years,” Jewell said. “It’s really important to celebrate America’s best idea.”

Jewell added that all Americans should become more familiar with the U.S. national parks to understand why the NPS needs to continue to receive government support. She also warned that the protected lands could be threatened in the future.

“Climate change is having a big impact on our national parks at every level, from historic preservation to preservation of cultural assets, to sea level rise and melting glaciers and changing habitats for plants and animals,” Jewell said.

Sources: Business Insider, Forbes, The Washington Post / Photo Credit: InAweOfGod’sCreation / Flickr