The latest news about Maine lakes and ponds.

LURC Urged to Seek Balance for Forestland

September 29, 2009 - AUGUSTA -- Many people who testified Monday before Maine's Land Use Regulation Commission urged the regulators to find a balance between development and preservation of the state's 10-million-acre unorganized territory.

The commission held a hearing in Augusta to get feedback on proposed changes to the Comprehensive Land Use Plan, which helps guide its decisions. Other hearings will be held today in Bangor and Wednesday in Presque Isle.

"We can't stand to have any more restrictions on development," said Cary Keep, assessor for Rangeley Plantation. "That's our industry."

The seven-member panel took testimony from a variety of people, including a longtime law school professor and representatives of Maine Audubon and timber companies.

Commissioner Gwendolyn Hilton said the revision of the comprehensive plan began in 2005 and a draft copy is now available for public comment.

After the plan is finalized, it will go to the Legislature's Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee and then to Gov. John Baldacci.

The plan establishes goals, and examines the location of development and the role of recreation in the area, which is the largest block of undeveloped forestland in the Northeast.

The plan also lays out what is a major challenge for the commission: finding a way to balance the needs of what is mostly privately owned land with public uses, including access for snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles.

Bob Meyer, who leads the Maine Snowmobile Association, said the plan should emphasize the importance of private landowners who allow public access.

Alexander Buck of Cumberland said the state has a major interest in protecting the environment, particularly the habitat that supports brook trout, which he described as an indicator species for the health of the region.

"As trout go, so goes Maine," he said, adding that the plan could help protect that environment for years to come.

The commission has been under intense pressure for years as it has wrestled with how to handle a resort-and-residential-development proposal from Plum Creek Timber Co. Last week, the commission gave final approval to a plan to allow construction of two resorts and more than 2,000 housing units near Moosehead Lake.

The company agreed to donate or sell conservation easements on 363,000 acres that ensure public access and prohibit residential development.

Don White, president of Prentiss & Carlisle Management Co., which owns 10 percent of the land in the unorganized territory, said the comprehensive plan raises several red flags.

He said it is written with a "preservationist" tone that could hurt land values and future development.

"Sometimes the document appears to be a strategic plan for more of a national park," he said. "This is not a national park. It is private timberland."

By SUSAN M. COVER, Kennebec Journal September 29, 2009


Lakes:
Regions:


Print this story

Email this story

return to Lake News