|
|
|
By Suzanne AuClair - If you didn't know it was there, it would be easy to miss, but Greenville has the distinction of being one of the most important division headquarters for the Maine Warden Service of the Dept. of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. The headquarters, tucked quietly into unassuming building on the edge of Moosehead Lake, provides the jumping off point into craggy rock, lush forests, and the headwaters of some of Maine's most essential river drainages, all carved into an extravagant, monolithic geography created by the last ice age. That geography, proudly hailed as the Moosehead Lake region, is also teeming with wild fish and big game, a tremendous area brimming with native brook trout, lake trout, moose, bear, deer, bobcat, and even lynx. Just as important and inexorably linked to the area is the Maine Warden Service, which for the past 128 years has been tasked with being the keepers of all these valuable resources. Today, with the growth in outdoor recreation beyond just hunting and fishing, the Greenville headquarters provides that ever-increasing important port of entrance, where wardens can reconnoiter and respond to any sort of emergency, from a boating accident or a search and rescue for a lost hiker, to preparing for the break-up of a destructive poaching ring. From this perch on the edge of the North Woods, wardens are able to move quickly into the interior by land, water, or air. In a new two-part series, the Moosehead Messenger will explore the history, honor, and pride in duty that is found in the region's district wardens as the acting conservators and protectors of Maine's outdoor heritage. The Maine Warden Service got its start back in the 1800s when the uncontrolled taking of moose, caribou, and deer, became a serious problem and herds of big game populations were decimated. By 1880 for the first time the Maine legislature found it had to enact a Commission, charged to manage and enforce laws to control the taking of important game species. Those early times marked the beginning of what is now known as the Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IF&W). At the same time, woodsmen interested in patrolling the state's forests and waters were appointed to the job of bringing poaching under control. According to IF&W reports, these men weren't paid but would receive half the amount of any fines paid by the violators they apprehended. By the early 1900s, wardens were also charged with looking out for game fish. Finally, by the 1940s, a bevy of new laws were enacted in order to start conserving fish and wildlife, and licenses were established to pay for those conservation programs. Flash forward to 2008 and, to this day, the budget of the warden service is still directly tied only to the revenues generated by hunting and fishing licenses and registrations – a controversial hardship felt by a warden service whose budget appears to be stuck in the last century, but whose job now includes the enforcement and rescues associated with the expansion into newer types of outdoor recreational activities, like snowmobiling and hiking. Over the years, the responsibilities of the warden service have steadily increased. While its main duty is still to conserve and protect the state's inland fisheries and wildlife, it is also charged with enhancing public safety through conservation laws, education, and search and rescue missions, as well as enforcing the laws and rules pertaining to snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles and watercraft. Today, wardens say the abundance of fish and wildlife found in the Moosehead Lake region continues to be highly valued, both by residents and by the thousands of tourists who come to experience what is known as Maine's outdoor heritage and which, according to IF&W, now plays a major role in the state's economy by generating over half a billion dollars annually. Even as money flows into the state based on the consumptive and non-consumptive uses of the inland's famed fish and wildlife, warden officials say the reality is budget cuts are sorely stretching the service. Unlike yesteryear, today the headquarters in Greenville is not only home to wardens who cover the Moosehead Lake region, but it is an umbrella for one of just three divisions, compressed from five that used to service the state's varied regions. According to Moosehead section warden sergeant Ralph Hosford, the Greenville division now covers about a third of the state, from Jackman to Mt. Desert Island, with approximately 31 wardens located in Piscataquis, Somerset, Penobscot and Hancock counties. Next week: Moosehead's tradition of warden pilots and warden duties.
|