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<br />001110 <br /> <br />the river discourages local people. One landowner goes so far as to <br />say that there is friction between locals and visitors. The issue <br />raised by the landowners is whether the designation has actually defeated <br />the purpose it was meant to achieve. <br /> <br />It appears from reports of technical staff of the state, that except <br /> <br /> <br />for degradation of campsite areas, that the river is still in good <br /> <br /> <br />condition. Water quality remains high as does natural vegetation quality. <br /> <br /> <br />Some possible adverse effects were, disturbance of waterfowl habitat, <br /> <br /> <br />some soil erasion at camps ites and increased pressure on the fi shery. <br /> <br />A state biologist working in the area was quick to point out that <br /> <br /> <br />logging operations, conducted by adjacent landowners was the most <br /> <br /> <br />si9nificant detriment to the river environment. These operations cause <br /> <br /> <br />siltation and noise in the river area. Better enforcement of existing <br /> <br /> <br />state controls was cited as a means to avoid these problems. <br /> <br />_ WERE THERE ANY BENEFITS OF DESIGNATION <br />State officials say that the state had laid most of the groundwork to <br />protect the river prior to designation. They admit however that designation <br />did speed-up the application of specific management policies to control <br />use of the Allagash. In a practical sense, designation was an after- <br />thought, because the state had already created an Allagash River Authority. <br /> <br />The Allagash management program is now budgeted at $100.000 per year. <br />This includes salaries for 7 full time summer rangers and 3 year-round <br />staff members. The state has set group size restrictions and distributes <br />visitors dispersal information to enforce good wilderness manners. <br /> <br />-7- <br />