The development of national monuments shows that a lot of jobs and a lot of money are coming in because of the visitors. Having national parks and national monuments around Maine is really helping Maine’s economy out. There are both positive and negative economic impacts of national parks and monuments in Maine.
According to http://www.publicnewsservice.org, “As the Trump administration reviews the fate of dozens of national monuments, new data shows hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of jobs flow to Maine from visits to national parks.” LePage has been a driving force behind the current review, and LePage says, “The state can do a better job preserving the lands than the federal government.” Public Daily News reports, “Ken Olson, past president and CEO of Friends of Acadia, says the new data from the congressional Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee shows federally maintained national parks are delivering major economic impact.” There were “3.3 million visits last year and that represents hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of people employed in Maine,” he points out. “And there’s a multiplier effect into the Maine economy.”
In 2013 the Federal Government shutdown the Acadia National Park for sixteen days. According to Bangor Daily News, “because of this closing, direct visitor spending decreased by about $8.5 million to $191.5 million, Acadia officials have said.” Park officials have said that visitors to Acadia in 2014 spent $221.8 million, which supported 3,486 jobs in the surrounding area. When an additional $50 million in wages for those jobs is included, federal officials said, the park is estimated to have had an overall economic benefit in the Acadia region of $271 million for 2014. The estimate for 2015 marks the second year in a row that visitor spending at Acadia is estimated to have increased. Even though Acadia National Park draws more than 3 million people annually and contributes nearly $275 million to Maine’s economy, there are people who oppose the monument simply because it’s “the federal government.”
The Trump administration says they will keep Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. According to WBUR News, “Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke wants to retain a newly created national monument in northern Maine, but he may recommend some changes.” Ryan Zinke was telling The Associated Press that he’s not getting rid of the twenty-seven monuments but there will be some changes. President Obama declared a few more national monuments. The Trump Administration wants to give the parks the states authority to have control, but Obama already has the Federal Government controlling the parks and monuments.
In the 2016, real estate transactions in Patten totaled just over $520,000. According to Bangor Daily News, “contrast that with the four months immediately following the monument’s designation, when there was $1.4 million worth of real estate sales.” In 2016 the monument saw a 100 percent increase in the same period from 2017 when they had $1.027 million is sales. “We got some glimpse of what would happen if these were taken away by looking at the various federal government shutdowns,” he states. “The last one, that affected Acadia National Park, of course, removed over $1 million from the economy – just in the short time that the shutdown occurred.”
The national parks and monuments in Maine are helping with money and jobs, but other things like Katahdin’s real estate issues have a lot of impact on Maine’s economy. President Trump has said that they are going to keep all of the twenty-seven Monuments.
By Joey Thomas
Valley's Word 