**FHWA Reauthorization Support**

Scan of External SAFETEA-LU Environmental Communications- Week 17

This week's scan of 27 stakeholder websites focused on associations of
governments. Only one of the websites reviewed had updated its content
related to SAFETEA-LU since we visited them in previous scans.

Following the list are articles and opinion pieces located during a
search of recent news, journal, and magazine articles:

-   ["When the Sea Destroys a Road, the Question Arises: Is It Worth
    Saving?"](#sea_destroys) New York Times, December 13, 2005

-   ["House Task Force Offers NEPA Reform Proposals,"](#reform) Oil and
    Gas Journal , December 27, 2005

-   ["House Task Force Recommends Changes To Speed Federal
    Projects,"](#speed) Associated Press, December 23, 2005

-   ["Statement on Release of the NEPA Task Force Report"](#statement)
    (press release), Natural Resources Defense Council, December 21,
    2005

-   ["A Pruning for NEPA?"](#pruning) (editorial), The Daily Sentinel,
    Grand Junction, CO, December 27, 2005

-   ["New Laws For Drivers Help Keep Pedestrians, Cyclists Safe To Take
    Effect In 2006,"](#new_laws) Curry County Reporter, Gold Beach, OR,
    December 28, 2005

-   ["Nonprofit Steps Closer To Protecting Historic Route,"](#historic)
    Planning, December 1, 2005

-   ["Highway Extension Threatens Tree Farm,"](#bangor) Bangor (ME)
    Daily News, December 29, 2005

**American Public Transportation Association**

<http://www.apta.com/government_affairs/safetea_lu/apportionment_notice.cfm>

> Text of an APTA comment on the Federal Transit Administration\'s (FTA)
> Notice Concerning Transit Program Changes, Authorized Funding Levels,
> and Implementation of SAFETEA-LU, published on November 30, 2005, at
> 70 FR 71950.

[]{#sea_destroys .anchor}**When the Sea Destroys a Road, the Question
Arises: Is It Worth Saving?**

By Cornelia Dean

New York Times

December 13, 2005

Santa Rosa Island, in the Gulf Islands National Seashore off the Florida
Panhandle, does not look like much of a battleground, even though the
170-year-old Fort Pickens guards its western end. But this tiny stretch
of sand has become a new focus in a long-running and intense debate
about how people can coexist with nature on the coast.

The island is a flat sandy barrier whose dunes have been virtually
destroyed in recent storms. Its lone road, County Road 399, had to be
moved after Hurricane Opal in 1995, and it was damaged by subsequent
storms.

It was washed out by Hurricane Ivan last year and rebuilt, only to wash
out again in Tropical Storm Arlene in June. Rebuilt again, it washed out
again in Hurricane Dennis the next month. After that damage was
repaired, Hurricane Katrina struck.

It was then that some park officials began to wonder whether it was time
to do something more than rebuild. Maybe, they said, it was time to
bolster the road with metal or rocks or other armor. That would maintain
access to island beaches, the fort and a nearby campground, attractions
that until Katrina had made the seashore a major attraction of the
National Park Service.

\"There\'s been a road there for over 50 years, and my personal feeling
is we have an obligation to do our best to provide that,\" said Jerry
Eubanks, superintendent of the seashore.

But not everyone agrees. The park service policy calls for letting
nature take its course on the seashore. One reason is the damage that
results when eroding beaches like Santa Rosa Island are armored with
rock or metal walls. Eventually, encroaching water will reach the armor,
leaving the beach itself under water, a drama that has often played out
on United States coasts, most of which are eroding.

Many coastal scientists say people have to learn to live with nature
rather than trying to hold off the ocean with walls and other
structures. One advocate of this view, Robert J. Young, a coastal
geologist at Western Carolina University, said he was particularly
disappointed to learn that the park officials were contemplating
armoring Santa Rosa Island.

\"It\'s heartbreaking,\" Mr. Young said. \"How can you expect the
developed shoreline to take this issue seriously if the parks agency, on
a pristine shoreline, are using brute-force management? It\'s really
discouraging.\"

So the people considering the fate of County Road 399 find themselves in
the middle of an intense environmental debate that has been raging with
growing intensity since the late 1960\'s, when an explosion of
development began transforming the nation\'s ocean coasts. Today, the
argument is further fueled by changes in the weather. In a decades-long
cycle, experts say, a period of relative hurricane calm has given way to
a period of more and stronger storms. Global warming will only make
things worse.

Mr. Eubanks, the seashore superintendent, said the roadway on Santa Rosa
Island typically failed when strong storms sent water rushing across it
in sheets. The water scours out the base of the road, and pretty soon it
is reduced to slabs of asphalt half buried in sand.

Park officials are considering a number of repairs, he said, including
the possibility of lowering the road so storm waters would wash over it.
After that, it would be reinforced.

In a report on the situation, Volkert & Associates, an engineering
concern in Mobile, Ala., said there were a number of ways the repairs be
done, but it recommended building a kind of seawall made of sheets of
corrugated metal called sheet piling that would be driven deep into the
sand along the seaward edge of the road. If this construction proceeded,
it would also be possible to run a sewer line to Fort Pickens to replace
the septic system there.

Mr. Eubanks, who trained as an engineer though he has not recently
worked in the field, said he believed that this kind of design would be
\"very little impediment\" to the island and would enable workers to
clear the road of sand after storms.

But David B. Shaver, chief of the geologic resources division of the
park service, said that when he learned of these plans he feared \"that
things were moving a little too fast.\" The seashore was developing a
general management plan, he said, but the storms this year, and the
emergency repair funds that followed, arrived before the process was
complete and \"before we had a handle on long-term impacts.\"

\"We have to balance cultural resources with natural resources,\" he
said, adding that while there was a lot of pressure from commercial
interests to maintain access to the park, maybe there should be a
\"shift in that relative balance, visitor use versus preservation.\"

\"That\'s an active debate,\" he went on. He said that no action would
be taken on any plans until after Jan. 1, and that until then,
construction of anything permanent \"is on hold pending analysis.\"

Rebecca Beavers, a coastal geologist for the park service, said
officials were considering ways to maintain road access between
Pensacola Beach and Navarre Beach, island towns separated by a stretch
of park. But right now, she added, \"we are working on interim options
that would not require hard stabilization.\"

That is good, in the view of people opposed to any armor, because it
gives them time to make the case that armoring the road will ultimately
be bad for the beach.

\"To maintain this road with a seawall is madness,\" said Orrin H.
Pilkey Jr., director of the Duke University Program for the Study of
Developed Shorelines and a fervent opponent of development on vulnerable
barrier islands.

\"They say, \'Well, it\'s only there for storms,\' \" said Dr. Pilkey,
an author of \"Living on the Edge of the Gulf\" (Duke University Press,
2001), which characterizes most of the western end of Santa Rosa Island
as an area of \"extreme\" erosion risk. \"That\'s not the way it\'s
going to work. It will be a seawall before long - in the water. In
itself, it will enhance the erosion of the beach.\"

He and others point to the strategy that the park service adopted when
the Atlantic Ocean threatened the famous lighthouse in the Cape Hatteras
National Seashore in North Carolina.

After years of intense debate, the lighthouse was moved 1,600 feet
inland in 1999, a step applauded by people who advocate keeping human
infrastructure out of nature\'s path.

Dr. Pilkey said the debate over County Road 399 reminded him of
arguments over the lighthouse. He said he saw \"the same lack of
sympathy for, the same lack of understanding, the same just plain
ignorance of shoreline processes.\"

He added, \"It\'s a very short-term view: \'We are going to save that
road.\' \"

Dr. Pilkey said he wished the park service would consider other ways of
maintaining access to seashore attractions like ferries from the
mainland. And he said he hoped that once people understood the
underlying geological processes shaping the island in an era of rising
seas, they would recognize the problems of the armor approach.

\"People say, \'What are you going to do, let the road fall in?\' \" he
continued. \"The correct answer, of course, is yes.\"

[]{#reform .anchor}**House Task Force Offers NEPA Reform Proposals**

Nick Snow

Oil and Gas Journal

December 27, 2005

Washington, DC, Dec. 27 \-- A US House Resources Committee task force
has proposed establishing a 180-day time limit for legal challenges to
final federal agency decisions under the National Environmental Policy
Act.

The group also recommended requiring litigants to demonstrate that the
\"best available information and science\" was not involved in reaching
the decision, and to be involved \"throughout the process in order to
have standing in an appeal.\"

It suggested that guidelines on who has legal standing to appeal should
consider such factors as \"the challenger\'s relationship to the
proposed federal action, the extent to which the challenger is directly
impacted by the action, and whether the challenger was engaged in the
NEPA process prior to filing the action.\"

The proposals are part of a 30-page draft that the task force issued on
Dec. 21, 2005, after 7 months of public hearings on the law. It will
receive public comments specifically about the document\'s
recommendations or findings through Feb. 6, 2006.

Rep. Cathy McMorris (R-Wash.), the Resources Committee member who
chaired the task force, said that it developed 22 proposed
recommendations from testimony at the public hearings and thousands of
public comments.

\"The 45-day comment period reflects the character of this task force
and of NEPA itself. I look forward to receiving additional input from
the public once again,\" she said.

Litigation issues were one of nine groups under which the task force
categorized the recommendations it drafted. Others included addressing
delays in the NEPA process, enhancing public participation and improving
federal agency coordination.

\"The task force heard diverse opinions on whether or how to improve
NEPA. I am committed to providing practical recommendations that take
these views into account,\" McMorris said.

Rep. Tom Udall (D-NM) was the task force\'s ranking minority member.
Other Resources Committee members on it included Ken Calvert (R-Calif.),
George Miller (D-Calif.), Jim Gibbons (R-Nev.), Mark Udall (D-Colo.),
Thelma D. Drake (R-Va.) and Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.).

\'Strong beliefs\'

\"The topic of changing NEPA elicited strong beliefs that changes are
necessary and would be productive. There were equally strong beliefs
that potential changes to NEPA or its regulations, in any way, would
undermine the effectiveness of the law,\" the draft report notes in its
summary.

\"Litigation was seen by many as the single biggest challenge with the
NEPA process---and one of the most effective tools for ensuring its
success,\" it continues.

Few actual lawsuits apparently have been filed under the law, but it is
more difficult to measure \"the perception or threat of litigation and
the impact it has had on the NEPA process,\" the summary adds.

The draft report says that the question of how and whether to change
NEPA was \"hotly debated.\" Many witnesses and comments said that no
changes should be made in the law or attendant regulations under the
Council on Environmental Quality.

Others suggested that changing NEPA or creating additional regulation
\"would create a better process through increased certainty and
clarity,\" the draft report says.

It adds that some task force members and submitted comments suggested
that a burden of proof should be met before considering changes in the
law. Those who advocated changes, it says, cited as specific reasons:

\-- Uncertainty that undermines public participation in the NEPA
process.

\-- Exclusion of state, local, and tribal entities from the process.

\-- Compliance costs that can run into millions of dollars.

\-- Delays that can result in the cancellation of projects.

\"At a minimum, these reasons sustain calls for modest changes to NEPA
and its regulations,\" the task force\'s draft report says.

Available online at:

<http://ogj.pennnet.com/articles/article_display.cfm?Section=ONART&C=GenIn&ARTICLE_ID=244445&p=7>

[]{#speed .anchor}**House Task Force Recommends Changes To Speed Federal
Projects**

By Matthew Daly, Associated Press

December 23, 2005

WASHINGTON --- A House task force is recommending changes to a landmark
environmental law to speed up road and other federal projects that
lawmakers say are frequently plagued by delays.

Republican leaders say they hope to find ways to streamline the
35-year-old National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, which serves as
the basis for federal management of public lands.

The GOP-dominated panel issued a draft report this week after studying
the issue for eight months. The draft will be open to public comment for
45 days, with a final report expected in February.

The 30-page draft report recommends a number of changes, including one
to address delays associated with NEPA. At a series of public hearings
across the country, witnesses complained about that lawsuits \-- or even
the treat of a lawsuit \-- can add years and millions of dollars to the
cost of a new road, housing development or other project.

One way to prevent delays is to narrow the definition of what
constitutes a major federal action, which under the law requires lengthy
study and public comment before moving forward, the report said. All too
often, projects that are not major are treated as if they were, leading
to unnecessary delays, it said.

\"The task force was presented with numerous examples and reasons that
\'delay\' has become synonymous with the NEPA process,\" the report
said.

One reason is the lack of clear timelines and milestones for federal
agencies, the report said. Another is lack of coordination among
agencies involved in environmental projects.

A key reason for the delays is the increasing length and heft and
NEPA-related documents, the report said. In 2000, the average size of an
environmental impact statement was 742 pages; guidelines of the Council
on Environmental Quality recommend that a normal EIS be less than 150
pages and a complex study be less than 300 pages.

The report also complained about the increased threat of lawsuits and
recommended changes to clarify how citizens who object to a project can
do so without filing a costly and time-consuming lawsuit.

Rep. Cathy McMorris, R-Wash., the task force chairwoman, called the
report the product of extensive work during seven months of public
hearings and consideration of thousands of public comments.

A spokeswoman for Democrats on the House Resources Committee called the
report a \"Republican draft document\" and said Democrats who serve on
the task force had no part in drafting it. Democrats will review the
report \"and look forward to the comments,\" spokeswoman Kristen Bossi
said.

Source: Associated Press

Available online at: <http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=9522>

[]{#statement .anchor}**Statement on Release of the NEPA Task Force
Report**

Natural Resources Defense Council

December 21, 2005

WASHINGTON \-- The Task Force draft report, which was released today
without member endorsement, suggests no less than 13 recommendations to
weaken the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in profound and
fundamental ways even though dozens of witnesses and the White House
Council charged with overseeing NEPA\'s implementation have said that
NEPA is \"as relevant today as when Congress passed it in 1969.\"

If the report\'s recommendations are implemented the playing field will
be changed dramatically, shifting 30 years of agency practice and
judicial interpretation of key elements of this bedrock law. The result
will be uncertainty and trepidation for agencies and stakeholders.

Echoing the sentiment of hundreds of Americans from Washington State to
Virginia who have expressed how important NEPA is to their communities,
we believe this law is integral to maintaining balance and common sense
where environmental decision-making is concerned. NEPA is the best tool
Americans have to be informed of how federal plans may affect them and
to hold their government accountable if it ignores their input, sound
science, or better approaches.

As the report acknowledges, nearly every witness and comment submitted
to the Task Force mentioned that public participation is fundamental to
NEPA\'s success. Yet, several of the Task Force\'s recommendations seek
to limit who, when, and how the public can participate in all levels of
the NEPA process, including appeals and litigation. These
recommendations will weaken participation and disenfranchise the public.

The truth remains that NEPA is a process that works to make sure
ordinary citizens, not just corporate special interests, have a chance
to participate in decisions and to ensure that all consequences are
considered before action is taken.

While the Task Force appears to have taken a page from the Bush
administration, choosing to release the report on the eve of the
holidays, we do look forward to commenting further on the report in the
coming weeks.

This statement was issued by American Rivers, Defenders of Wildlife,
National Environmental Trust, The Wilderness Society, U.S. Public
Interest Research Group, Earthjustice, National Wildlife Federation,
American Lands Alliance, Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense
Council.

Available online at:
<http://www.nrdc.org/media/pressreleases/051221b.asp>

[]{#pruning .anchor}**A Pruning for NEPA?**

The Daily Sentinel, Grand Junction, Colo.

Dec. 27, 2005

After 35 years, the National Environmental Policy Act arguably could use
an update and some streamlining. Appeals and related legal actions are
frequently used to delay valid projects for years. The size of the
average environmental impact statement has ballooned to nearly 750
pages, almost large enough to require an EIS just for the tree-cutting
necessary to provide paper.

Little wonder then that a congressional task force is recommending
changes in NEPA to make it speedier and reduce the paperwork involved in
the process.

However, given the propensity of the Bush administration and some
Republicans to try to fast-track oil shale development, gas drilling and
private acquisition of public lands, conservationists could be forgiven
a certain amount of skepticism about the proposed changes.

Some straightforward modifications in the law should be made, after they
are fully vetted in congressional hearings with ample public debate. But
don\'t be surprised if a few GOP members try to ram through measures
that virtually gut the law and try to hide them in innocuous, unrelated
legislation.

Available online at:

<http://www.gjsentinel.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2005/12/27/12_27_NEPA_edit.html>

[]{#new_laws .anchor}**New Laws For Drivers Help Keep Pedestrians,
Cyclists Safe To Take Effect In 2006**

Curry County Reporter

Gold Beach, OR

December 28, 2005

2005 legislature launches safety program for school children

A handful of new Oregon traffic safety laws that are designed to keep
people outside the car safe will take effect in 2006.

Senate Bill 591, passed by the 2005 Oregon Legislature, will make
turning easier for drivers at intersections with traffic signals and
pedestrians crossing.

The bill, which takes effect January 1, creates an exception to the
one-lane buffer law that took effect in 2004, requiring motorists to
stop and wait until a pedestrian crosses both the driver\'s lane and the
adjacent lane before proceeding.

SB 591 allows motorists to make a turn at a signaled intersection once a
pedestrian is six feet across the adjacent lane rather than across the
entire adjacent lane. That\'s slightly more than the width of a typical
car.

\"Lawmakers heard feedback from motorists that the full-lane requirement
sometimes prevented drivers from making turns at busy signalized
intersections,\" said Julie Yip, **Safe Routes to School** coordinator
for the Oregon Department of Transportation\'s Safety Division.

\"The six-foot buffer is intended to give pedestrians space for a safe
crossing without forcing a motorist to wait until the person crosses an
entire two-lane street, for example,\" Yip added.

SB 591 also clarified the definition of \"adjacent lane.\" Parking
spaces and bicycle lanes are considered part of the lane of traffic. In
other words, a driver must wait for a pedestrian to cross the vehicle
lane and any bike or parking segment along the lane of traffic.

Under Oregon law, a crosswalk exists at any public street intersection
whether marked with paint or unmarked. Crosswalks also exist between
intersections (mid-block) where indicated with white paint.

At a traffic signal, drivers must 1) stop and remain stopped for
pedestrians until they have cleared the lane in which the driver is
traveling and the adjacent lane; and 2) stop and remain stopped for
pedestrians until they have cleared the lane into which the driver\'s
vehicle is turning and at least six feet of the adjacent lane.

At any other crosswalk---those without a signal---drivers must 1) stop
and remain stopped for pedestrians until they have cleared the lane in
which the driver is traveling and the adjacent lane; 2) stop and remain
stopped for pedestrians until they have cleared the lane into which the
driver\'s vehicle is turning and the adjacent lane; 3) stop and remain
stopped for students crossing (or about to cross) a street under the
direction of a crossing guard; and 4) stop and remain stopped for a
blind or blind and deaf pedestrian using a cane or a guide dog until the
pedestrian is completely across the roadway.

\"A stopped car may be a clue that a pedestrian is crossing,\" Yip said.
\"Don\'t pass until you know what is going on. In fact, it is not only
unsafe but also illegal in Oregon to pass a vehicle stopped at a
crosswalk for a pedestrian.\"

Giving pedestrians more space and slowing down in their presence can
save lives. Pedestrians struck by vehicles at 40 mph have an 85 percent
chance of dying in the collision. That death rate drops to 15 percent at
20 mph.

**Bicycle Lane Safety**

Lawmakers in 2005 also addressed the safety of another group of road
users vulnerable to motorized vehicles---bicyclists. SB 938, which takes
effect January 1, clarifies some safety provisions for bicycle lanes.
Under the bill, motorists making a right turn must yield to bicyclists
passing on the right. In fact, when making either a left or right turn,
drivers must yield to bicyclists traveling straight.

\"Check your side mirrors, and check your blind spot over your shoulders
for bikes,\" Yip said. \"That\'s a habit drivers ought to have for their
own safety, but for cyclists and pedestrians, it can save a life.\"

SB 938 also permits bicyclists to travel outside a bike lane in order to
avoid unsafe conditions such as debris. Therefore, motorists need to
remain alert and allow a little breathing room for bicyclists even when
a bike lane is present.

School Zone Speeds

Changes to the school zone speed law passed by the 2005 Legislature
won\'t take effect until July 2006, in time for the 2006-07 school year.
The previous law and current school zone signs and speeds will remain in
effect through June.

\"Some signs will change next summer for the 2006-07 school year,\" Yip
said. \"But remember the law is simple: motorists only need to follow
the signs---now and next school year.\"

**Safe Routes to School Program**

The 2005 Oregon Legislature also launched a safety program for school
children who walk or ride their bikes to and from school. HB 2742
creates the **Safe Routes to School Program**, which will provide grants
to safety projects at schools across Oregon.

\"We want to increase the number of children walking and bicycling to
school,\" Yip said, \"but we must ensure that they have safe routes.
We\'re in the process of developing a grant program that will provide
federal funds to projects that improve the safety of children bicycling
and walking within two miles of school. It could be as simple as a
sidewalk or other low-cost way to encourage walking and biking to
school. It depends on a school\'s specific needs.\"

The greatest danger for many children walking or biking to school comes
from traffic on neighborhood roads and streets. Fifty percent of
children who are hit by cars near schools are hit by cars driven by the
parents of other students, according to Travel and Environmental
Implications of School Siting, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
report.

The Safe Routes to School grant program is being developed with the
assistance of an advisory committee. Yip anticipates that grant funding
could be available as early as October 2006. Information on the program
may be found at the following internet address under Safety Programs:
http://egov.oregon.gov/ODOT/TS/.

[]{#historic .anchor}**Nonprofit Steps Closer to Protecting Historic
Route**

Sandra Olivetti Martin

Planning, v71, n11, p52

Thursday, December 1, 2005

Depending on your side of the road, the Journey Through Hallowed Ground
is either the last, best hope for preserving America\'s patriotic
patrimony, or it\'s a giveaway of the rights on which America was
founded.

The Journey refers to a succession of America\'s most revered historic
places along U.S. Route 15\'s 175-mile run from Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania, to Monticello, Virginia. In June, the ribbon of land
earned a place on the National Trust for Historic Preservation\'s Most
Endangered list for 2005. A nonprofit organization, called the Journey
Through Hallowed Ground, has launched a campaign aimed at designating
those 175 miles a **National Scenic Byway** and its environs as a
National Heritage Area.

This fall the group came two steps closer. In September, Maryland\'s
Catoctin Mountain Highway joined the nation\'s 125 Scenic Byways, which
have shared \$300 million since that program began under the Federal
Highway Administration in 1991. Now businesses and tourism organizations
along the Maryland Journey can apply for federal grants to enhance
heritage tourism opportunities.

In Virginia, a stretch of the road received \$1 million in funding from
the transportation reauthorization, SAFETEA-LU, to begin to develop a
corridor management plan.

**Hallowed ground**

The Journey was once a trade route for the Iroquois and Susquehannock
Indians and later, six presidents made their homes within its reach.
Camp David is also located along the highway. The Journey is probably
best known for the many Civil War battles that occurred near there:
Gettysburg, Antietam, Manassas, Chancellorsville, and Cedar Mountain, to
name a few.

Within the million acres that make up the route there are already 73
National Historic Places, 13 national parks, 13 national historic
landmarks, two national heritage areas, and dozens of Main Street
communities\--all set amidst scenic rivers and landscapes. But, as the
Philadelphia-Baltimore-Washington-Richmond megalopolis stretches west,
this area marks the frontier of East Coast sprawl.

\"Growth and development need to be sensitive to the historic resources,
the small towns, cemeteries and landscapes, the character of this
threatened region,\" says Richard Moe, president of the National Trust.

The National Heritage Area designation that preservationists are seeking
comes from Congress and is administered by the Park Service. The second
designation, **National Scenic Byway**, comes from the federal
Department of Transportation. Achieving these designations would open
the door to federal money for planning, marketing, and tourism,
supporters say.

**Roadblocks**

While the Journey campaign is making strides in getting sections of
Route 15 designated as a **Scenic Byway**, winning congressional
designation as a National Heritage Area has further to go. So-called
property rights groups are throwing up roadblocks. \"Heritage areas are
sold as local decisions to preserve history and promote tourism,\" says
Tom Deweese, founder of the American Policy Center, a group whose
offices in Warrenton, Virginia, are not far from Route 15. \"But if the
funding goes through the National Park Service, the federal government
and millions of dollars are involved and strings are attached,\" he
adds. The center is lobbying to add language making any historic area
designation \"purely voluntary.\"

\"It\'s not about property,\" counters the Journey\'s Olwen Pongrace.
\"We\'re not dealing with public property but private, to come up with
solutions that honor and cherish and savor our heritage, and part of
what makes us special is our right to property.\" Both points of view
are being weighed by Maryland U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, whom the
nonprofit hopes will sponsor National Heritage Area legislation in
Congress.

Martin is editor and publisher of Bay Weekly in the Chesapeake Bay
region.

COPYRIGHT 2005 American Planning Association

[]{#bangor .anchor}**Highway extension threatens tree farm**

Bangor Daily News

December 29, 2005

EDDINGTON - For a local certified tree farmer, who is being honored as
the best in Maine at what he does, it may come down to either his tree
farm or the highway.\
\
Malcolm Coulter Sr., who with his wife, Dorothy Coulter, has been named
Maine\'s 2006 Tree Farmer of the Year, is facing the possibility that
the proposed extension of Interstate 395 could cut their 147-acre farm
in half.\
\
One of the two final proposals for extending the interstate highway to
Route 9 could put the road through the middle of the Coulters\'
certified tree farm on Merrill Road, according to an aerial map of the
project at the Eddington Town Office. After passing through Holden, the
proposed route known as 3EIK-2, would cross over Route 9 in Eddington,
bypass the East Eddington village and bisect the Coulters\' property
north of the village before merging with the state highway east of the
Clifton town line.\
\
According to Ray Faucher, project manager for Maine Department of
Transportation, the other option would follow the Holden/Brewer town
line north and would link up with Route 9 in Eddington, roughly five
miles west of where the state highway now crosses the Eddington/Clifton
town line.\
\
Malcolm Coulter Sr. said Tuesday that unless the state agrees to move
the proposed route toward the northern end of his property, it could
cleave his property in two and leave him with no way to get from one
side of the new highway to the other.\
\
Coulter, a retired wildlife ecology professor at the University of
Maine, spoke Tuesday from Schaefferstown, Penn., where he and his wife
had stopped for the night while driving south to Yankeetown, Fla., for
the winter.\
\
\"That really cuts into things pretty badly,\' Coulter said of the
possible route across his land.\
\
Eddington resident Hewlett Crawford, whose 97-acre certified tree farm
abuts the Coulters\' property to the east, also is facing the
possibility that the same highway extension route will cut through the
middle of his land. Attempts Tuesday and Wednesday to contact Crawford
at his home were unsuccessful.\
\
Despite the possible harm to the Coulters\' Timberdoodle Tree Farm, they
have been recognized by the Maine Tree Farm Committee for running the
best overall tree farm operation in the state. They are expected to
receive the 2006 Tree Farmer of the Year award Jan. 11 at the annual
Agriculture Trade Show in Augusta.\
\
\"Historically, the governor has presented the award,\" Stephen Elliot,
chairman of Maine Tree Farm Committee, said Tuesday. \"We\'re hoping
\[Gov. John Baldacci\'s\] schedule will allow it.\"\
\
Elliot said the organization selected the Coulters for the honor because
of their holistic approach to managing their property. They are not just
motivated by profit, he said, but also are careful to protect local
water resources, to maintain the aesthetic appearance of the land, to
allow public recreational uses on the property, and to protect wildlife
habitat.\
\
So sensitive are the Coulters to wildlife habitat that they cut alder
trees before they are fully mature in order to maintain habitat for
woodcock birds, which prefer to nest in juvenile alder trees, according
to Elliot.\
\
\"They have far exceeded what a normal \[tree farmer\] would ever do,\"
he said.\
\
Faucher, who is overseeing the project for MDOT, said Tuesday he has
talked with Coulter and Crawford about the possible effect of the
highway\'s extension on their tree farms. The legal right-of-way for the
highway likely will be 300 feet wide but probably would require a swath
between 100 and 150 feet wide for the highway\'s two travel lanes,
shoulders and buffer zones, he said.\
\
\"We\'re continually trying to find ways to minimize impacts,\" he
said.\
\
The highway\'s final location has not been decided, according to
Faucher. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is reviewing the possible
routes and has not yet indicated what changes, if any, should be made.
The Federal Highway Administration has required MDOT to conduct an
environmental impact study of the proposed routes - a process that
Faucher said likely will take 18 to 24 months to complete.\
\
Russell Smith, Eddington\'s town manager, said Tuesday that the town
contacted MDOT last winter to ask that the state do what it can to avoid
bisecting the Coulters\' and Crawford\'s properties.\
\
The town has drafted another letter, not yet signed by the selectmen, to
send to MDOT, according to Smith. The letter describes the effort the
Coulter and Crawford families have put into the tree farms and
importance of the properties to the area.\
\
\"Clearly, those lands are very important to the community and region,
especially so in view of the urban sprawl that is rapidly encroaching
from the Bangor-Brewer area,\" the letter indicates. \"Projections about
private forestland in the lower Penobscot \[River\] watershed forecast
that more than 300,000 acres will be lost to housing and other
developments in the next three decades.\"\
\
Smith said the board plans to vote next Tuesday, Jan. 3, on whether to
approve the draft letter and send it to MDOT.\
\
According to Coulter, he and his wife have owned their property for 42
years. He said that they see themselves more as land stewards than as
lumber growers.\
\
\"A lot of people think all a tree farmer does is plant trees and cut
wood,\" Coulter said. \"We like to maintain any wildlife we can.\"\
\
They allow hikers and cross-country skiers on their land and let hunters
use the property with permission, he said. The name Timberdoodle comes
from a nickname for the woodcock bird, which often can be seen in flocks
on the property.\
\
Certified tree farms, which have to meet standards for sustainable
practices, are a growing trend in the forestry industry, according to
Coulter. He said that in about 10 years certified lumber likely will
serve a premium niche market, much as organic foods do now.\
\
\"We sold products to five different mills \[last year\],\" Coulter
said. \"That shows what \[the farm\] does for the local economy.\"\
\
He said he and his wife don\'t plan to attend the award ceremony next
month in Augusta. A relative and a forestry consultant who has assisted
the Eddington couple are planning to be there to accept the award on
their behalf, he said.\
\
Coulter said he is concerned about the highway but is not too worried
about the eventual outcome. He is hopeful he can convince the state that
the road should be built so it impacts his and Crawford\'s properties as
little as possible.\
\
\"I think maybe we can come out alright,\" he said.

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