‘It Has Not Been Fun’ — CMP Transmission Project Divides Western Maine Communities
CMP’s proposed transmission line would cross right over the trail Duane Hanson uses to get to his off-the-grid home near the Canadian border. Photo by Fred Bever for Maine Public
To get to the backwoods homestead where Duane Hanson started his family four decades ago — deep timber territory, 16 miles from the Canadian border — you have to snowmobile sometimes more than 8 miles in from Spencer Road in Jackman. Eagles and other raptors patrol the air above.
The trail is crisscrossed by moose and deer tracks, lynx, bobcat. There’s some evidence of a recent mountain lion visit.
Along a glacial esker that runs between Hanson’s 60-acre parcel and his son’s 100 acres is land that belongs to Central Maine Power. You can spot it because Hanson has posted a tin sign here, with stenciled letters reading, simply, “CMP powerline corridor.”