Maine’s North Woods covers more than 3.5 million acres of forestland, largely owned by large timber corporations with the occasional wealthy out-of-stater buying up a few thousand acres here and there. Billionaire John Malone bought part of Maine’s North Woods and recently claimed to have a “survival retreat” along the Quebec border. I wonder what this “retreat” entails, but I can tell you this:
Media billionaire John Malone purchased the 53,524-acre “Frontier Forest” near Jackman, Maine for $14 million, or just over $261 an acre, pushing his Maine land holdings to almost 70,000 acres. The land owned by Great Eastern Timber Co. LLC (whose parent is John Hancock Insurance) was marketed by LandVest at $17,750,000. It has an estimated timber capital value of $28 million, according to LandVest. The tract contains almost a dozen sizeable ponds, three major streams and mountainous terrain that are valued by recreationists.
(2003 news source)
Everyone seems to have their own idea on what constitutes the “North Woods.” Some of you big time city slickers reading this site might think all of Maine is the North Woods, which probably differs from someone living on Maine’s coast, which probably differs from what I think. I highlighted in green this map of Maine to outline what I consider to be the North Woods.
Note the red star – that’s Jackman, where Malone owns land along the border. I’ve been in and around Jackman numerous times and I can tell you – despite what this Jackman site might imply – there ain’t much there! Websites have the ability to make anything look fancy. (Just look at what SHTF Blog does for me!)
Jackman has a border patrol building, cabin rentals, some loggers/truckers, and a handful of small restaurants that cater to ATV riders, hunters and snowmobilers. It’s a very cash poor town. There is one “hospital” that looks more like a rural town office. Its services are very limited. If John Malone thinks he’s just going to fly in there with his float plane WTSHTF and mingle with the Jackman locals to survive, he’ll want to reconsider that plan. In a SHTF situation they won’t take kindly to flatlanders flocking in. If his plan is to just cross the border into Canada, something tells me the few Canadians just on the other side won’t be much different.
The Maine North Woods is, with the exception of a few very small towns and the occasional hunting camp, virtually uninhabited. It’s just miles upon miles upon miles of dirt roads, lakes, streams and a whole lot of trees. Four wheel drive is a virtual requirement if you’re visiting the North Woods during spring mud season or late fall when there’s a chance of snow, and make sure you pull over for logging trucks, because they cruise at high speed down the middle of the road and won’t make room for anyone. The roads are subject to washing out in a flash and many are closed completely during winter, which makes for some of the best snowmobiling country anywhere. Snowmobiles, boats and float planes are very common means of getting into or out of the North Woods. Wildlife includes whitetail deer, moose, rabbit, black bears, bobcats, coyotes, fox, fishers, weasels, porcupine, lynx, partridge and black flies – lots of black flies.
Here are a few pics from some of my North Woods deer hunting trips.
I daydream about owning a small cabin in “God’s Land” (as we like to call it) and stocking it with SHTF supplies, but the North Woods has both good and bad shits hits the fan survival retreat attributes. The single best thing about the North Woods is that – there is no one around. In an extended SHTF situation, you might see someone driving through on a truck in search of game, but they’d be using very valuable gas to do that. I’m not kidding when I say the land is vast.
The worst worst thing about the North Woods is that – there is no one around. If you hide out deep in the North Woods WTSHTF, you’ll only have whatever you’ve stocked, save the periodic moose, deer or other critter. Plenty of firewood on hand, but no medical care, bartering options or basic social interaction. If you go to the North Woods for long-term survival, you’ll become a deranged hermit.
Lastly, National Public Radio recommended Three Books to Help You Enjoy the Apocalypse. They are:
- Galapagos: A Novel (Delta Fiction)
- CivilWarLand in Bad Decline
- Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse: A Novel
20 comments
Hey!!! don’t go slandering us deranged kermits, I mean hermits…
me, myself and I are quite happy with our own company I’ll thank you, with maybe the occasional mouse, I mean moose for company on a cold night… ahem… beggers can’t be choosers…
You may not be able to buy a small piece of land in the Northwoods but you could easily do the next best thing. In your prehunt trips find your best spot and bury some caches. Food, tools, ammo, tents, seeds, etc. Just a shovel and 5 gallon buckets is all you need. If/when TSHTF you get there and your supplies are prepositioned. It wouldn’t matter thatthe land belongs to a timber company because they won’t be there to bother you. You could build a cabin grow a garden and sit out the crisis.
Absolutely spot on in my opinion! Ty for sharing that idea. One can have multiple positions to bug out to, depending on the shtf/fallout catastrophe?! Again, well said.
Hey…
I bet the guys gonna buy up all of Maine piece by piece and when shtf, they’ll turn Maine into a huge F.E.M.A. camp!!! or a maximum security prison.. so instead of escape from New York (the old film… Google it..)
It’ll be escape from Maine!!
I almost challenge the possibility. That would answer so many of our inner itch. would b our own “RED DAWN”! Would shut everything down to include the economy. Would be back to living off basic needs and survival. Would thin this place out of anyone who can’t run a trout line real quick. Can’t threaten a country/survival/x-army/Mainer boy with a good time!
Sometime when you get a chance see if you can find & read ‘Ten Million Acres of Timber’ by Austin Wilkins. Its a good book about the Maine woods, mostly about the Maine forest service. He was your forestry commissioner for several decades. I went to see him speak in Portland when he was 99. He was one hell of a guy.
Buying some affordable wooded land in the back woods of Maine has always been somewhat of a fantasy for me. It certainly doesn’t surprise me that I wouldn’t have much company in the North Woods. It’s the opposite extreme of NYC and finding that “goldy locks” location is the true challenge.
Go-go Girls of the Apocalypse was actually a pretty good piece of zombie fiction. Did not realize it would make it to an NPR list at the time… I’ll have to check out the other two in the list. Thanks!
The North Woods of Maine sound quite a bit like northern Minnesota. Except we’ve probably got less black flies but an order of magnitude more mosquitoes.
Steelheart
Oh Maine doesn’t lack mosquitoes at all, but usually at dusk and dawn . But all the biting flies during the day are just as bad as they take chunks out of you to make a hole to slurp up blood. Deer flies, horse flies and green flies are very persistent
Pretty good synopsis. There are a couple of larger towns in that area with slightly larger hospitals and greater retail variety. As far as the rich guy goes, he probably wouldn’t even know if a small village of a couple hundred people were squatting and even farming on his 70,000 acres. That’s a whole lot of land for one guy. He probably even has mineral tights, with plans to search for gold, after he sells off all of the timber.
Here is another thought. When you are looking to “squat” on public land check over the maps carefully for a dirt road that originates in one state but ends in another state. In old logging road maybe. What this can provide is access to land in remote Maine that cannto easily be accessed from Maine. The law enforcement and probably even the Maine fish and game authorities are unlikely to go there. Hunters may but in general you don’t look outside the state your license is in for access to that state you are licensed in. This might give you some extra security for a cache or some pre-SHTF preperations.
After cafeful thought and research, I truly think being in a semi-rural environment is the best option in a SHTF scenario. Unless someone is a true survivalist and can live off land etc, I think having others around would have benefit. There would be division of labor….someone to keep a vigil, someone for medical, fixing things, etc. Having said that, one must assemble a team of like minded people. I am careful as to who I share info with. I only tell others of my prepping plans if they share the same feelings and are taking action. I have enough food/medical/self – defense items to last a bit. I have enough to give out as charity if need be. But I do not have enough to support other families who have failed to prepare. Fact is only 5% will prepare….the others will not.
I agree with most everything you said.
I am pretty sure John Malone bought his land in Maine because it was a good time to buy (prices are down). Where else in New England can you get this much land for this price? Forget that it is, at the moment, uninhabited. If he was looking for someplace to build his underground bunker he might have better alternatives, given the real estate he owns across the US.
I am new to the “survivalist attitude”. I am extremely worried about what is going on in the world around us. My biggest concern at this time is the the potential for Muslims and their apparent attempt to take over the world, through violence. I believe that anyone who does not realize that they are living in our country, and planning to kill us, in our own country, does not have their eyes open.
Here are my questions:
1. What are the scenarios you are preparing for?
2. How do you deal with the scenario of a dirty nuke in the New England area?
It is my opinion that America will not fail (at least in the near term) on it’s own. I do feel we are so exposed to the rest of the world, and what they want for, and FROM, our country, that we risk losing control of our country. At worse, the radical Muslims will inundate us with attacks, to the point that the country falls into chaos.
Just trying to understand the threats. Thanks for any help.
Noam
Not originally a Mainah
I find that most scenarios worth prepping for require the same types of preparedness measures, mainly food, water, self-reliance, etc. A dirty nuke in the New England area doesn’t concern me much. Dirty nukes are limited in their threat capacity and would cause more havoc in a large city. Are you a Mainah now?
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Malone’s a globalist. He’s also banking on 5G upping his profits, while he has little boys flown in via floatplane to molest. The area he’s in would be better suited to self sufficient folks that can live amongst nature without money. John Malone is scum of the earth. And so are his body guards that look after his geriatric ass. (disguised as local dumb rednecks,and actually not that much smarter)
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