Piscataquis County economy needs more than snowmobilers

Bob Meyers, years ago, taught me about Maine’s unique Interconnected Trail System (ITS). It enables snowmobilers to ride from Maine’s coast to Canada; and Maine’s borders east to west. Maine’s ITS is also an economic lifeline for business owners relying on snowmobilers who stay in Maine lodges/hotels, eat at Maine restaurants, have their sleds repaired/serviced by Maine mechanics.

Meyers is now serving his 21st year as executive director of the Maine Snowmobile Association (MSA). With the ITS and its economic offshoots running through Maine’s rural Piscataquis County, I interviewed Mr. Meyers this week for his thoughts on Piscataquis County present and future.

He said Piscataquis is “a remarkably beautiful place” with “endless opportunities for outdoor recreation. Snowmobiling, hunting, hiking, fishing, camping — just about anything you’d want. Most of it is on private land. There is this huge, very rich tradition of public access on private land that developed, and remained over the years, partially because Maine has excellent landowner liability laws,” Meyers said.

What, if anything, needs to happen for Piscataquis County to become a place where more people can settle down and work?

“Certainly tourism is an important element, but it can’t be the only element,” Meyers said. “I think what’s really needed is to develop the industrial base. You have this massive amount of fiber and wood available. The key is finding ways you can use it to build industries. Even with paper mills shutting down, a tremendous amount of wood is still being cut there. Unfortunately, a lot of it ends up in Canada. I think this state should be finding ways to keep that wood in Maine, doing the value-added work here,” Meyers said.

“So, from our perspective as a snowmobile organization, snowmobile clubs — a healthy forest products industry, a healthy agricultural industry is good news. When they thrive, we thrive,” Meyers continued.

What about the theory that Maine’s forest industry is inevitably evolving downward?

Meyers said, “There’s certainly an element of that. But, you have the resource forever. The woodlands are incredibly well-managed. Basically there’s an endless supply of wood and fiber there. What do you do with it if you don’t make paper anymore? You can make lumber, composite materials, saw mills, furniture companies, torrefied wood. The University of Maine has done terrific work on composites and things that rely on forest products to produce,” he said.

Does Maine need to improve telecommunications to attract web-based businesses in rural areas?

“We can always use telecommunications improvement. The MSA has a pretty significant online presence now — which you have to have. Then you have to adapt it to work with mobile devices. The changes are remarkable,” he said.

When Meyers first went to work with the MSA, they provided snowmobilers Maine trail condition updates, a few times weekly, on an answering machine accessible through an 800 number. That system was costing MSA $12,000 annually when they went online around 1998. Today trail conditions are updated virtually with photos/email messages from member snowmobile clubs for “a fraction” of the cost.

Meyers said he has many professional encounters with out-of-staters. “They are invariably very familiar with Maine,” he said, “and they say, ‘My God, I wish I could live there.’ Well, why don’t you?”

The answer is always, “I can’t find a job that would pay me what I make in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire …”

“We need to hunt for these people eager to come to Maine. How do we make it easy for them? You start creating jobs that would bring these people in,” said Meyers.

Scott K. Fish has served as a communications staffer for Maine Senate and House Republican caucuses, and was communications director for Senate President Kevin Raye. He founded and edited AsMaineGoes.com and served as director of communications/public relations for Maine’s Department of Corrections until 2015. He is now using his communications skills to serve clients in the private sector.