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V O L . X X V I N O. X V I 200 200 IDEAS FOR MAINE'S BICENTENNIAL 10 Fact Book / Doing Business in Maine Maine Guides open a world of outdoor adventure B y L a u r i e S c h r e i b e r egistered Maine Guides comprise an iconic sector of Maine's tourism industry. Guides had been used going back to Maine's early days. Thoreau canoed in northern Maine with two Penobscot Indians, decades before the first license was issued. The idea of a registered Maine guide came after the wave of fly fishermen and hunters started in the 1880s as a way to regulate what was already becoming an industry. Cornelia "Fly Rod" Crosby was issued the first Maine guide's license in 1897. Born in 1854 in the remote Rangeley Lakes region, Crosby was a writer, fly fisher, hunter and out- door enthusiast who worked for the Maine Central Railroad promoting the sporting life in Maine at the turn of the century. During that first year, Maine issued 1,700 guide licenses, primarily in the hunting and fishing disciplines, according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Today, there are 5,000 licensed Maine Guides, said Master Maine Guide Don Kleiner, who owns Maine Outdoors in Union and is executive direc- tor of the Maine Professional Guides Association. Guides can be licensed in one or more specialized classi- fications for hunting, fishing, sea kayaking, tide-water fishing and a range of recreational activities, including guided watercraft, all- terrain vehicles, snowmobiling, camping and paddle sports on inland waters. The Maine Guide sector had a heyday in the late 1800s and early 1900s, declined a bit, then came roaring back when canoe trips along the Allagash River in Maine's North Woods became popular. Subsequent activities have seen surges in popularity as well, including bear hunting, then sea kayaking and whitewater rafting. Today, clients seek out Maine Guides for paddleboard trips. "People think you need to be an expert to go with a guide," Kleiner said. "In fact, no one's better qualified to take a begin- ner. They know what to do, when to do it, what equipment works best." » C O N T I N U E D F RO M PA G E 8 C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 1 2 » R P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y M A I N E O U T D O O R S P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y M A I N E O U T D O O R S UMaine's new 3D printer is the largest in the world B y L a u r i e S c h r e i b e r n October 2019, the University of Maine's Advanced Structures and Composites Center, in Orono, unveiled the world's largest 3D printer — a $2.5 million exquisitely calibrated machine that can turn out objects as large as a boat in a matter of days. Manufactured by Ingersoll Machine Tools in Rockford, Ill., the printer is capable of running along a 100-foot bed and extruding printer filament at a rate of 500 pounds per hour. Tolerances are within 6,000th of an inch. The university's acquisition of the printer was an outgrowth of the composite center's research, con- ducted the past 15 years, in combining cellulosic nano and micro fibers with thermoplastic materials, said Habib Dagher, the center's founding executive director. It signals the latest step in an additive manu- facturing collaboration, funded by the Department of Energy's Advanced Manufacturing Office, between the composites center and the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The initiative is designed to expand the potential of the 3D printing market and create a new market for Maine's forest products industry. Oak Ridge and UMaine are working with the forest products industr y to pro- duce new bio-based mate- rials that will be conducive to 3D printing a variety of large, structurally demand- ing products. The printer is expected to support civilian, defense and infrastructure applications. The printer can handle complex objects, such as a full-size patrol boat proto- type that was displayed at the unveiling and certified by a Guinness World Records adjudicator as the largest 3D printed object in the world. The combination of printer capability with new composites utilizing Maine-based cellulose nano fiber is seen as a new era for Maine's bio economy, put- ting the forest industry front and center as a partner in creating bioderived recyclable material systems. For UMaine, the printer's value includes new opportunities to cultivate interdisciplinary research as well as next-generation innovators for workforce development. The center is developing new software and hard- ware technologies to integrate with the printer. That includes high-performance computer connections for even faster and more precise printing, and artificial intelligence and sensor capabilities to make the printer "smart," able to automatically adjust print patterns as needed, and able to produce "born certified" parts, meaning the end-product is ready for real-world use. P H O T O / L A U R I E S C H R E I B E R Master Maine Guide Don Kleiner, who owns Maine Outdoors in Union and heads the Maine Professional Guides Association, is seen here guiding Florence and Bill Nestor on a beginner course. I Cornelia "Fly Rod" Crosby was the first registered Maine Guide. She received her license in 1897. The University of Maine's new 3D printer is the largest in the world, capable of producing objects up to 100 feet long by 22 feet wide by 10 feet high.

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