Protecting the Future of the Northern Forest A Congress-Appointed Council Is Drafting Plan to Balance Northeast Forest Management with Local Job Base

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`IT'S a spiritual place. I can smell the mysteries of the moss."

"I remember rafting down the Penobscot - gurgling near the riverbanks - seeing osprey, moose, red squirrel."

"What we need to do: Buy massive amounts of land for ecosystems. We need a national park, national forest. You can fly over Maine and not leave a clear-cut in half an hour. The game is over. The forest is mostly gone."

These are the picturesque but sometimes urgent words of Patty Gamborini, Maggie Brazalius, and Charles Fitzgerald, respectively, New England residents who voiced their views on the state of the Northern Forest at a recent public hearing held in Boston. Eighteen similar …