- The Power of Parks
New National Monument Created in Maine's North Woods
The land for the monument was donated by a nonprofit connected to the family behind Burt's Bees.
More than 87,500 acres of forestland in Maine's North Woods was designated the newest U.S. national monument by President Barack Obama on Wednesday, just one day before the centennial of the National Park Service.
The new Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument is the 413th preserved area in the Park Service and the second national monument to have been designated in the state (after Acadia National Park’s precursor). It sits east of Baxter State Park in north-central Maine, more than 200 miles north of Portland.
The land was donated to the federal government this week by Elliotsville Plantation, Inc., a nonprofit foundation started by Roxanne Quimby, the co-founder of the Burt’s Bees line of natural products. The foundation also says it