However, when they applied for tax exempt status, they weren't given the same status as an economic development corporation. But that's not important.

The significant thing is that they were never intended to develop the economy, at least not in the way in which we were led to believe.

I have in front of me a booklet entitled, "Northern Forest Toolkit of Economic Sustainability: A How-to Manual of Strategies, Tools and Resources for Building Sustainable Economies, Communities and Landscapes," published by the Northern Forest Alliance.

The Northern Forest Alliance is a coalition of environmental and preservation groups which include the Appalachian Mountain club, the Wilderness Society, Appalachian Trail Conference, Conservation Law Foundation, Defenders of Wildlife, Environmental Air Force, Green Mountain Club, Green Mountain Forest Watch, Maine Audobon Society, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Council of Maine, Natural Resources Defense Council, RESTORE: The North Woods, Sierra Club, Student Environmental Action Coalition, Trust for Public Land, and others, all of which are environmental organizations, and none of whom are known for building worthwhile economies.

I'm sure you're familiar with some of the member organizations, as we've seen them in action here, and around the state. Two of them just recently filed suit against the IP mill in Jay.

I'm not going to go into all of the many reasons why the Northern Forest Alliance should be thought of as the bad guys because, quite frankly, if I have to convince you of that, everything else that I have to say will be lost on you, anyhow.

Let's see what else might sound familiar to you.

Major funding sources for the Northern Forest Alliance include the Jessie B. Cox Charitable Trust, which supplied the $25,000 pass-through grant that MAGIC received from the Wilderness Society, as well as another that was received by the Maine Highlands. Jean McLean, the mother of MAGIC's director, is on the board of the Maine Highlands.

This toolkit, published by "Businesses for the Northern Forest," a program of the Northern Forest Alliance, is a manual of how to go about transforming a paper mill town into a tourist trap, to the economic benefit of those who stand to profit from an economy based on tourism and only the lightest of industries.

This is the manual that was followed in enacting the campaign that has brought about the significant changes that we've seen in our economy and in our way of life over the past several years.

We can start out with the primary author of the Northern Forest Alliance's how-to manual, who is identified as Kelly Ault. Until recently, Kelly involved with the WoodNet program, which MAGIC has bandied about here more than once. Kelly created BNF in 1995 as a program of the Appalachian Mountain Club and the Northern Forest Alliance to strengthen partnerships between the business and conservation community around issues in land conservation, sustainable forestry and economic development.

The Northern Forest Alliance toolkit speaks of supporting locally-owned businesses employing a small number of people, and MAGIC has sponsored the WorkSphere program here, headed by Michael Schuman, who was previously director of the Green Policy Institute.

"Value-added forest products" is another term that you'll see in the Northern Forest Alliance manual, and we've heard a lot about that from MAGIC, and from Spencer Philips, of the Wilderness Society. The value, of course, only goes one way.

Amenity-based development, nature-based recreation, cultural heritage tourism, and land conservation are major focuses of the Northern Forest Alliance strategy.

Under the section entitled, "How to Make Amenity-based development Happen," the manual talks about selecting a group of stakeholders who can be "involved in the planning process and establishes infrastructure to implement a vision." Resources for this include the Wilderness Society, Environmental Advocates of New York, and the Peace and Justice Center.

The Northern Forest Alliance definition of a gateway community is "a community adjacent to public and private lands designated for conservation, recreation and/or cultural purposes." Stakeholders are "people or groups with a direct interest, involvement and investment in something."

This is interesting. The Northern Forest Alliance Manual states, as follows:

Establish Follow Up Process and Build Infrastructure

To maintain momentum and ensure the successful implementation of ideas, a follow up process with leadership and infrastructure should be thoughtfully designed.

• In some cases an ad hoc group or existing organization can guide the work. In others, it is necessary to establish a more formal entity, such as an economic development corporation, municipal commission, or non-profit citizens group.

It looks like they opted to create the Millinocket Area Growth & Investment Council, pretending to be an economic development council. Following the instructions found in the Northern Forest Alliance's manual, MAGIC was formed as a part of an agenda set in motion by the Northern Forest Alliance. Its subsequent actions bear this out, that it never was intended to be anything else.

The toolkit describes the "visioning" process which you might remember from a couple of years ago, and one of the resources listed is a program by Antioch New England, the college that Michael Kelly, of AMCi, graduated from.

The only industries that are recommended by the Northern Forest Alliance, other than those related directly to tourism, are wood crafts, and non-timber forest products, such as maple syrup and fiddlehead ferns, small businesses, mostly home-based and employing very few people outside of the family. The Maine Highlands and WoodNet are listed as resources in this area.

There is nothing in the plans that would indicate support for industry and manufacturing. To the contrary, the emphasis is on the manufacture of small wood craft products, made in limited quantities, and using recycled wood as much as possible.

The emphasis, in other words, is on saving trees, not producing jobs.

It should come as no surprise that the larger emphasis is on transitioning areas into gateway communities, promoting nature-based recreational opportunities, eco-tourism, and adventure sports. Gee, I wonder who stands to benefit from that?

Trail networks are recommended, and I should point out that even before our vision committees met for the first time, the trail networks for the Katahdin region had been published on the EMDC web site.

If you participated in the visioning process here in the Katahdin region, your presence was needed only for show. The vision had been planned long before your names were even selected.

We're seeing the implementation of another part of the Northern Forest Alliance's vision for the Katahdin region in the "Cultural Heritage Center" that is supposed to moving into the old Newberry's building, and in the other cultural projects that MAGIC and its affiliated groups and committees are working on.

Once again, your own vision was unnecessary. The plans had already been created, and not by anyone from here.

Then, of course, there is the lengthy section on land conservation and preservation. There are no surprises there, except that we should be pleased to know that they are concerned about us having places for spiritual renewal.

The emphasis in the land conservation section is on conservation easements, open space planning, and getting the state and federal government to buy up as much of it as they can get away with.

If you're interested in reviewing a copy of this tookit for yourself, please contact me. If you'd like a copy of your own, I'll tell you where you can send for one, if they're still sending them to the Millinocket area.

When you read it for yourself, I am convinced that you'll see that MAGIC itself was created as a part of a plan set forth by the Northern Forest Alliance, and that nothing that they have been doing was intended for your benefit, at least not unless you are one of the few selected stakeholders who stand to benefit from the transitioning of the Katahdin region into a gateway community of land barons and trinket peddlers.

When you read it for yourself, I hope you'll be as angry as I am.