More than 1800 Maine residents, from school children to loggers to a Pulitzer Prize winner, participated in The Wilderness Society’s "Maine Voices Project." The project was designed to elicit from-the-heart sentiments from our Maine neighbors about the places nearest and dearest to them. The project succeeded beyond our wildest hopes and soon you will be able to read some of the best of the essays.

From the Hearts of Mainers
Each of us has a natural place that we consider special. For some, it is no more distant than the backyard, which looms large when we are small. For others, it may be a local park or open space. For still others, it might be wilder places such as a Baxter State Park that loom large and grand for a lifetime. In essays submitted to our "Maine Voices Project," Maine residents, over 1800 in all, have lovingly described a range of such places that matter most to them. Writers were of all ages, all backgrounds -- from loggers to corporate leaders to Pulitzer Prize winners -- and from across the state. The common thread was love of this place.

An Allagash logger wrote about his regret over the thousands of trees he had felled. On the last full day of her life, 99-year-old artist Emily Muir completed a poignant essay about her family’s homestead on the Maine coast. L.L. Bean Chairman Leon Gorman wrote, "Maine places are known for transcendental values, but Maine people don’t talk transcendental. They talk tangibles..."

And they do, from Fort Kent to Kittery. Writers included Pulitzer Prize-winner Richard Ford ("Independence Day"). He and others took the time to put their love of Maine’s outdoors into words as part of the Voices Project. About 75 of their essays will appear in a book due out in early 2004. Milkweed Editions, a nonprofit literary publisher in Minnesota, will publish the volume. And over the next year selected essays will be featured at public readings across the state.

"We wanted Mainers to tell us what makes the state’s wild places important to them and why it is essential to protect those places," said Jeremy Sheaffer of the Society’s Boston office who coordinated the effort. "The response overwhelmed us and it was a joy to be part of it."

The project is the centerpiece of a comprehensive communications campaign to raise public awareness of the values of Maine’s wild places. Check back with this page in the future to read sample essays and get project updates. To order a copy of the book, contact mainevoices@tws.org.