Trees Are Making a Comeback

Designing an Innovative, Sustainable Sawmill and Pellet Factory in Millinocket, Maine

Project Summary

Community: Millinocket, Maine (Our Katahdin)
Technical Assistance: Site Reuse Design
Former Use: Lumber Mill

Future Use: Sawmill and Wood Pellet Mill, Public

Use

Millinocket is in north central Maine, near Baxter State
Park and the iconic Mount Katahdin, the northern terminus
of the Appalachian Trail. The community's history has long
been intertwined with the success and decline of the
lumber industry. The Great Northern Paper Mill supplied
much of the identity of this small community as a place of
employment and dominating the town's geography,
covering over 1,400 acres. After the mill closed in 2008,
the non-profit Our Katahdin (OK) purchased the site.
Today, the mill is envisioned as a sustainable forestry
center and industry hub that incorporates the site's lumber
history and moves the community into the next generation
of wood-based manufacturing.

The Community's Challenge

The Great Northern Paper Mill site is over 1,400 acres of
sprawling former mill land and associated buildings. There
is great possibility for a site of such scale but requires
thoughtful and cohesive site planning to ensure the future
development across the entire site meets the vision and
expectations of the community. The Paper Machine
Number 11 (PM11) complex is just one of the many
buildings remaining on site and OK requested assistance
to understand the potential of reusing the PM11 building
as a sustainable forestry hub to support a commercial
sawmill and other community-based uses.

EPA's Land Revitalization Technical Assistance
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of
Brownfield and Land Revitalization (OBLR) and EPA
Region 1 provided contractor technical assistance to OK to
support the site reuse and revitalization planning for the
PM11 complex on the former Great Northern Paper Mill
site in Millinocket. Previous EPA technical assistance
performed in 2021 focused on reuse planning for the main

Administration Building at the front of the site and the
nearby Engineering and Research Building. The PM11
complex project continues the reuse planning efforts of
this large property.

Previous environmental site assessments found several
recognized environmental conditions at the PM11
complex, including areas affected by radioactive material
storage, oil tanks, and other storage areas for former mill
equipment and waste drums. Several areas of concern
around the PM11 complex are recommended for
additional environmental investigation and cleanup before
redevelopment may occur.

The final site plan for the PM11 complex illustrates how
the proposed sawmill can not only provide economic
activity on the site but also play a role in reconnecting the
public to the site. The plan includes areas of adaptive
reuse for mill activity, coffee shop, artisan maker spaces,
and community space. There are also areas to connect
the building to a walking trail around the site and across
Millinocket Stream.

Eye-Level View of a Potential Development Alternative Which
Looks into the More Public Side of the Sawmill and
Sustainable Forestry Hub.

For more information, contact James Byrne, EPA Region 1
Brown fields Program, at Bvrne.James@epa.gov.

A |~|^ jy United States

Environmental Protection
^1	Agency

Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization
560-F-23-309

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