I am preparing for my first guided ice fishing trip of the year and making the rounds of the local ponds that I like to fish in. I am checking a few things first how thick the ice is (about 6 inches everywhere I checked), is there a cleared parking space and finally is it crowded. A couple on my list while not remote are secluded and are usually not busy. Those are quite small but offer good opportunities to be out of the wind, a huge advantage on a cold windy day.
One pond in particular has a small parking spot that belonged to friends who allowed access for many years. I knew that the land had been sold and feared that access might have been eliminated or perhaps restricted. As I pulled up hoping for the best but fearing the worst I immediately spied a boldly displayed Land for Maine’s Future sign clearly demonstrating that is access preserved for the future. Wow that is great stuff. One of those signs is proudly displayed in my office.
It brought me full circle; I was appointed to that board by 2 governors and served 2 terms with a lot of good folks. Not always easy decisions to be sure. I termed out just as the current Governor included significant funding for the program in the state budget. One of my fondest memories relating to my time on the board was while guiding at Libby Camps. Argy came up for the weekend bringing me the box of proposals to read and evaluate for a meeting in early November. I spent a couple of afternoons on the Libby Camps porch reading and scoring a box level full of interesting proposals.
I was not on the LMF board when the proposal for this spot was submitted but mark me down as delighted that it was and received funding. Made my whole week.
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