On September 2, 2026 the MDI Historical Society joined the Northeast Harbor Library for "Trees & Democracy: Forest Inspiration on Mount Desert Island." The talk traced how parts of Mount Desert Island have been continuously forested for thousands of years, reflecting the island's unique landscape and millennia of human relations—from Wabanaki caretakers to the European explorers, investors, and colonists who sought to make the forest their own. It explored how the pursuit of white pine that inspired the American Revolution reached the shores of Frenchman Bay, and how hills of oak and pitch pine helped fuel the economy of an emerging nation. As the island's conifers filled sluiceways, tanneries, and sawmills, concern for the forest's fate inspired another revolutionary idea: people coming together to make decisions about the future of the landscape, preserving forests that remain vital to the pursuit of democracy today.

Featuring Catherine Schmitt, science communication specialist at the Schoodic Institute at Acadia National Park and author of the recent book Trees of Acadia, the program was based on her article, "On Western Mountain," in the 2026 edition of the history journal Chebacco.