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Activists Claim Plum Creek Harassment

November 21, 2007 - GREENVILLE -- Four environmental activists, who reportedly were filming an educational documentary on Plum Creek on Friday afternoon, say they were harassed at the timber company's Greenville office and later when they returned from a hike on Moose Mountain.

"I felt like we we're being criminalized," Emily Posner of Montville said Monday.

She was one of four members of Native Forest Network, Gulf of Maine, who claim they were detained by the company's security firm and one of three who later were issued summonses by the Piscataquis County Sheriff's Department for criminal trespass. NFN is a national volunteer organization that advocates for the protection and restoration of forests and wild places, according to Posner.

"We're not accusing these folks of anything other than trespassing," Luke Muzzy, Plum Creek's project manager, said Monday.

Since the company was vandalized in 2005, it has taken every effort to protect its employees and its assets. Muzzy said. Those 2005 incidents, which included a break-in when computers were stolen, vandalism, and the theft of tools and logging equipment, prompted the company to hire a security firm. An officer with that firm responded when the individuals disregarded a no-trespassing sign at the entrance of the company's employee parking lot, according to Muzzy, Posner said Monday that she, Ryan Clarke of Portland, Alex Lundberg of Searsmont, and John Waters of Montana, an expert on climate change, had no intention of damaging Plum Creek's property.

"We're trying to organize for the public hearings," she said.

The public hearings before the Land Use Regulation Commission will be held at Plum Creek's request to rezone land it owns in the Moosehead Lake region's Unorganized Territory. The Seattle-based company wants to create 975 house lots and two resorts over several years and has offered to conserve more than 400,000 acres to mitigate the proposed development.

NFN is registered as an intervenor and will participate in LURC's hearings planned for December and January, according to Posner. She said NFN supports a stance of "no compromise" in regard to Plum Creek's proposed development.

"This type of project contributes to global climate change, threatens the ecological integrity of the largest undeveloped region east of the Mississippi River, and undermines the rural heritage of the region," NFN claims.

Recounting Friday's event, Posner said the foursome had driven to Greenville to do the documentary and stopped to film the exterior of the company's office at about 4 p.m. Posner, who was the driver, said she, Clarke and Lundberg waited in the vehicle while Waters filmed the exterior of the building. A few seconds later a guard confronted them, accused them of trespassing, and cornered them in the parking lot with his vehicle, she said.

"I felt very threatened by the way the security person cornered my vehicle," Posner said.

She said the guard did not identify himself at first, asked the group for identification and told them they were trespassing. Posner said the guard eventually let them go and she drove across the street to the Moose Mountain trailhead. There, the group left the vehicle to hike the mountain to get video footage of the proposed development area. On their return, Posner said, they were met by a Greenville police officer and three Piscataquis County sheriff's deputies and two wardens.

"I walked into a pretty hostile situation," she recalled.

While the officers videotaped them, they were quizzed about any involvement they may have had in the 2005 vandalism against Plum Creek, she said.

"They also asked me if we were violent, and if I had explosives in my car," she added.

Posner, who said this was her first trip to Greenville, told the authorities that she had been serving as a relief worker in New Orleans in 2005. Posner said she declined the officers' request to search her vehicle since they had no search warrant. She said Waters offered to show the police the video he took of the company's office, but his invitation was declined. Instead, Posner, Waters and Lundberg were issued citations for criminal trespass.

"It feels as if the state is in collusion with the company to discourage the public from participating in the rezoning process," Posner said.

This isn't the first time the NFN has been under surveillance, according to Posner. She said a man in an unmarked car videotaped members as they entered and left the last LURC meeting on Plum Creek. Muzzy said his company is attempting to protect itself.

"Ecoterrorism does exist and the events we've been through in the last couple of years just makes us concerned about our people who work for us," he said. "By no means are we trying to silence people," Muzzy said.

He said the company has been seeking public opinions about the project from the start.

"This is a very open public process." If anyone wants to videotape the company's Greenville office all they need to do is call ahead and make arrangements, Muzzy said.

SOURCE: BANGOR DAILY NEWS

DATE: 11-06-2007

Lakes: Moosehead Lake
Regions: Moosehead


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