Maple syrup mecca owned by LePage ally applies for $1.2 million in conservation aid
Source: Bangor Daily News
Roughly three dozen projects are expected to apply for $3.2 million in state funding through Maine’s premier conservation program. And one of the projects — a bid to conserve a remote, 23,600-acre wooded swath and its plantation of sugar maples in Somerset County — is seeking $1.2 million.
The Somerset County project, also known as Big Six, has already generated scrutiny because it’s not typical of the projects funded by the Land for Maine’s Future program. The 30-year-old program is credited with conserving over 600,000 acres in Maine and preserving areas under threat of development, while providing access to the public for recreational purposes.
Big Six is different from other LMF projects. Tucked at the northwest edge of Somerset County, it’s relatively inaccessible to Mainers, requiring rough travel on old timber roads or multiple border crossings into Canada. But the area is considered valuable as a working forest, specifically a 4,500-acre sugarbush that’s credited with producing up to 25 percent of Maine’s maple syrup production.
A report by Maine Public found that much of the production at Big Six is done by Canadian syrup producers. And most of the syrup that’s produced there is shipped to wholesalers in New Hampshire and Vermont, where it’s sold as a product of the U.S., not Maine.
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Read more: http://bangordailynews.com/2017/09/14/business/maple-syrup-mecca-owned-by-lepage-ally-applies-for-conservation-aid/
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corporate welfare and crony capitalism? Potentially involving a puke governor?
Why do people vote for these a**holes??? Do they enjoy seeing their tax dollars go for corporate welfare? Oh, well, as long as poor people aren't getting help.
