March 28, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Timber plan irks officials at Acadia > Harvesting set to begin on Schoodic Peninsula

WINTER HARBOR — A private landowner’s plan for timber harvesting on Schoodic Peninsula has ruffled the feathers of its nearest neighbor, Acadia National Park.

Winter Harbor Holding Inc., owner of approximately 3,000 acres in Winter Harbor, with much of it abutting the Schoodic portion of Acadia, has the required permits from the town and the Department of Environmental Protection to harvest timber on its woodlot. The operation, expected to affect about 2,000 acres, can begin at the end of this month, with the local permit expiring the spring of 1999.

The wooded acreage to be harvested, located between Route 186 and Frazer Creek, abuts part of the park’s loop road on Schoodic. Property the company owns between the loop road and the ocean will not be harvested. The Dave Warren Co., a 20-year-old family-owned business of two licensed foresters, has drawn up the harvesting plan and will supervise the contractors.

Since the operation is not a clear-cut, the landowner is not required to notify or solicit comment from abutting neighbors. Unlike some towns, such as on Mount Desert Island, Winter Harbor’s ordinances do not require a timber harvesting project of any size to go before the local planning board for a public hearing or neighbor notification, unless located in the shoreland zone, which this property is not.

With licensed foresters in charge of the harvesting operation, and a plan on file with the Maine Forest Service, the project must conform to state best forestry management practices, according to forester Mike Benjamin of the Warren company. The DEP will be on site periodically to assess the work.

Despite the state standards, park officials are questioning the potential effects of the harvesting on Schoodic. Foremost, the park is concerned about how the timber harvesting will affect the views of Schoodic from the Mount Desert Island portion of Acadia, from the top of Schoodic Mountain and from the water, according to Deputy Superintendent Len Bobinchock.

“It will change the character of Schoodic,” Bobinchock said.

Allan Smallidge, town manager of Winter Harbor, said some local people have told selectmen they are concerned about how the cutting will affect the look of the area.

Smallidge described the woodlot as a “major piece of property” in a relatively small town, geographically. Since the property is located adjacent to the park loop road on Schoodic, the land is visible, he said.

While the harvesting may be apparent to those who regularly hike to the top of Schoodic Mountain, the land will not look bald after harvesting, Benjamin said. “We don’t want to make a bald spot … and that’s not going to happen.”

Benjamin said forests are dynamic by nature and that the Schoodic woodlot looked very different 20 to 30 years ago, when it was previously harvested.

In fact, the same piece of property has been harvested several times in recent decades, he said. Old logging roads are still in place, ones that will be upgraded for this project. Although sensitive to the same issues as the park, Benjamin noted that people who own a private woodlot have a right to harvest the trees, regardless of whether their neighbors approve.

Bobinchock said the park has another concern, in addition to wondering how the harvested area will look. Since Acadia has not been able to review the harvesting plan — as no local or state laws mandate it be reviewed by an abutting landowner — park officials wonder whether the project may affect publicly protected resources such as the watershed, the soils and the wildlife within park boundaries.

“All we’re asking for,” Bobinchock said, “is for the landowner to tell us up front, openly and honestly, what he’s planning to do. Then if we have concerns, we could comment. Maybe we wouldn’t have concerns if we saw the plan.”

While Benjamin, as a forester, upholds the private property owner’s rights to use the land as long as that use complies with the law, he said plans for the harvesting include a buffer zone that will average 100 feet between the harvesting operation and the park’s loop road.

Benjamin said the landowner also does not want soil erosion or sedimentation problems. Those concerns, he said, are shared by foresters. Benjamin noted that the property, with no old-growth forest, is ringed by development. The Winter Harbor Navy Base, another developed area, is also a neighbor of Acadia, he said.

Bobinchock said the park is additionally concerned that the owner is an absentee property owner, with perhaps no ties to the area.

An effort to identify and contact the landowner, through the investment firm of Siren Management in Manhattan, N.Y., was unsuccessful. Jeff Heidings of Siren said Tuesday he was unwilling to divulge any information about Winter Harbor Holding Co. to the press.

Smallidge said he also has no information about the landowner. He said the local Board of Selectmen questioned the Maine Municipal Association about whether the town had any legal means to withhold a harvesting permit, due to some local concerns, and were told they could not.

Smallidge said the town “just hopes it’s done in a responsible manner.”

Noting the current restrictions and standards of forest harvesting that will govern the project, Benjamin said the intended operation is simply an example of a landowner harvesting timber for wood products. The project will “supply local jobs, provide money to the local economy, and will be conducted responsibly and supervised by licensed foresters,” Benjamin said.


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