Question for Carter

My compliments to Jonathan Carter, the Forest Ecology Network and the Maine Greens for their efforts to protect Maine forests from unwarranted clear-cutting and over-cutting. Over the years Carter has been actively involved in protecting Maine’s environment. His leadership is greatly appreciated.

Carter has succeeded in bringing “An Act Regarding Forest Practices” to referendum. Carter reports that the act does not prohibit the “banking” of harvesting. For example, if a landowner’s forest is growing at an average annual rate of 50 cords per year then the landowner could cut 50 cords a year. If the landowner did not want to cut every year then the growth per year could be accumulated until the landowner decided to harvest. After 10 years at 50 cords of growth a year, the landowner could harvest 500 cords. Not cutting each year is like putting money into a savings account which can be drawn at some future date.

There is one thing I don’t understand. The second sentence of the act states, “This means that the yearly allowable cut levels may not be greater than the average annual growth during the past 10 years.” Since I’m not a lawyer, I know little about interpreting the law. How does this sentence say you can “bank” your harvest? How does this sentence say you can cut 10 years of growth in the 10th year? Could Carter help me with this? Charlie Gradie Belmont