One of the most popular water park rides these days is the Whitewater experience, in which a raft on tracks runs through some simulated rapids. "You WILL get wet!" reads the sign. The ride is fun, but for some real Whitewater rafting, give northern Maine a try, and you may get an environmental education as part of the bargain. This is one of the few places in the country still without back-to-back McDonalds and malls. If you want groceries, better pray they have what you want at the general store, because it's a long haul to anywhere else. Much of the land in the still-wild northern half of Maine is timberland owned by paper companies, but it has come under increasing development pressure. Some 17 percent of Maine's agricultural land is now foreign owned, and is soaring in value. Land on the eastern shore of Moosehead Lake that sold for $200 an acre in 1998 brought $8,000 an acre just two years later. Between 1980 and 1990, there was a 23 percent increase in houses in northern Maine. As seasonal and year-round homes level the forest, the public has been losing access for recreational uses.
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