PATTEN, Maine — A small group of Patten area residents came out Wednesday to hear an update of the Katahdin Gazetteer, a collaborative effort for and by surrounding towns from Patten to Millinocket to improve the area.
According to the group’s website, the Katahdin Collaborative was an idea formed in January 2016, when the Katahdin Area Chamber of Commerce, Katahdin Revitalization, Our Katahdin, DesignLab, Katahdin Area Trails, Millinocket Memorial Library, Northern Timber Cruisers and Katahdin Citizens Group all came together to discuss ways they could work together toward the common good of the region.
The Katahdin Collaborative started as an informal roundtable of interested Katahdin area community and economic development groups including local governments, but has since grown to a larger, independent review of the area.
Adam Burk, lead consultant for the Katahdin Gazetteer project, discusses the vision for the Our Katahdin region during a public meeting in Patten Wednesday evening.
(Joseph Cyr)
“The Katahdin Collaborative is a network of individuals and organizations, both for profit and non-profits, throughout the entire Katahdin region who noticed there was an uptick in economic and community development in the last few years,” said Lucy van Hook, community development director for Our Katahdin. “Some of those efforts, however, were pulling against each other, so there was an interest in having people share what they are working on so we can get all of our oars going in the same direction.”
Van Hook said in 2017, a survey of all the participants in the collaborative was conducted to see what issues were on the forefront for future discussion.
“A regional vision rose to the top of the list,” she said. “So the Katahdin Gazetteer was launched in February of 2018.”
Wednesday’s gathering, held at the Katahdin Valley Health Center’s administration building, discussed the group’s second draft of their research project. A second meeting was held Thursday evening in Millinocket.
“We are in month 10 of the Katahdin Gazetteer,” said Adam Burk, lead consultant for the Katahdin Gazetteer project. “We set out last year to create a vision and action plan through in-depth conversations across the region. We are at a point where things have gotten more polished. We have interacted with more than 1,000 people and gotten thousands of pieces of feedback.”
Van Hook said breakout sessions have been held in a number of communities to review the data collected. The final draft of the Katahdin Gazetteer vision and action plan will be unveiled March 14.
