Gates are blocking hunters from driving through Katahdin Iron Works

By Julie Harris, Bangor Daily News Staff

Moose hunters were surprised last week to find several new gates blocking vehicle access to Katahdin Iron Works land.

Logging company Pine State Timber is closing 95 percent of its 30,000 acres to vehicle traffic because of thefts, damage to equipment and destruction of roads, according to Seth Roope, forester and land manager for the company.

The company has not restricted foot traffic or hunting at this point, although the property likely will be leased to one entity for bear hunting, he said. Public hunting will be restricted to the high bridge area with foot traffic only. 

It is the latest instance of a large private owner restricting access to land that has traditionally been open to public use and that hunters, hikers and others depend on for recreation. Maine is overwhelmingly privately owned, and outdoorspeople operate on a kind of honor system. 

Roope said that company owners considered gating the roads for several years, but had hoped people would start using the property more respectfully. In the last couple of years, theft and road damage has become pervasive, he said.

“As an industrial timberland owner, Pine State Timber has to look at things in a business fashion with cost-to-benefit ratios. Public access is no different and is looked at in the same way. This is how the decision was made from a financial perspective when it comes to installing the gates,” Roope said.

Inappropriate behavior, such as dumping trash, tires, mattresses and appliances, is one of the major reasons private landowners rescind public access to their properties, according to Tim Doak, executive director of Maine Woodlands Owners.

Even gates don’t solve the problem, he said. People park in front of the locked gates, blocking the landowner from going in or out of the property.

Thefts at Katahdin Iron Works have ranged from fuel to wheels off parked loaders and trucks, costing tens of thousands of dollars over the years, Roope said. In addition vehicles cause ruts in the spring that are costly, and hunters ruin roads designed to be traveled only during frozen conditions.

Ruts, which cost tens of thousands of dollars a year to repair, also form channels for the water to follow, resulting in washouts and sediments being discharged into waterways, which state law says the company is responsible for fixing. The state also can charge fines.

Four new gates, which cost about $8,000 each to fabricate and install, are in place, and two more are on order. The total cost will be about $60,000, which is approximately what the company invests in repairs and replacement of stolen fuel and equipment annually.

Closing the roads to the public and saving money on repairs or upkeep will give Pine State a return on its investment in gates in two years, he said.

Vehicles will have thru access on B Pond Road to the abutting landowner’s property, but most of the side roads will be blocked with locked gates or piles of rocks. They eventually will be posted with “Road closed. No trespassing” signs, Roope said.

The Merthyr Road gate that has been in place for a number of years will be closed, restricting access to that portion of the property as well, Roope said. In the past, people have shot or cut off the locks on that gate if it was closed. It has historically been open to the public through many different owners, he said.

The change in public access will close off Greenwood and Saddlerock ponds, plus several brooks and streams will have from limited to no access.

The snowmobile trail that bisects the property will remain open as long as people stay on marked trails. All other types of motorized vehicles will be prohibited on closed roads and spurs, he said.