With the announcement in the Wall Street Journal a few weeks ago, no Maine citizen should have any doubt about what Plum Creek Timber Co. has in mind for Maine’s North Woods.

Plum Creek announced in the Wall Street Journal that it plans a major expansion into real estate development. The company specifically singled out lakes in Maine and Montana as the highest priority for future development. The company owns all or partial frontage on 140 lakes and ponds in Maine’s North Woods.

The Wall Street analysts were celebrating all the money that this would bring to Plum Creek. They say land used for development will rake in at least 10 times as much as land used for growing trees. But what does all this high finance monopoly game mean for Maine?

It means that our long heritage of vast undeveloped woodlands in the North Woods is about to slip away. Instead of beautiful pristine lakes where the public can go to hunt, fish, camp and canoe, we will be getting lakes ringed with more and more new buildings, complete with generators and lights.

In fact, Plum Creek has already taken a major step in that direction. The company is currently in the process of applying for a permit for 89 new subdivision lots on First Roach Pond, east of Moosehead Lake. At the Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) public hearing in late October, many people familiar with the area mourned the loss of North Woods character that will inevitably accompany 89 new house lots.

But public concerns seem to be getting short shrift. This deal has been greased from the start. The public’s notice to participate in the hearing as an intervenor was delivered to interested parties just three business days before the deadline. Apparently, Plum Creek didn’t want too much involvement by the pesky public.

And LURC seems determined to help Plum Creek avoid public scrutiny. On Dec. 13, LURC re-opened the public record to allow Plum Creek to submit a slew of additional documents, including four very complex, interlocking deeds and a “Negative Easement.” All of these documents substantially impact the question of whether this project includes (as required by law) a publicly beneficial balance between conservation and development. The public was given just three business days to review these documents.

While the LURC Commission doesn’t formally vote on this project until January, Plum Creek is already assuming it is a done deal.

One change has been made in the proposal. About half of the 500-foot-deep strip of land around the lake originally trumpeted as being conservation land of great public benefit has been removed from the public conservation land category. Instead, it will be turned over to the future lot owners, confirming what the Natural Resources Council of Maine has argued from the beginning: that the benefits from this project accrue to Plum Creek Corp. and the subdivision lot owners, not the general public.

Plum Creek has refused to seriously consider any of the proposals NRCM has made to strengthen their proposal and provide real public benefit.

We proposed that Plum Creek protect the rest of the First Roach Pond watershed from development. Otherwise, just as soon as this project is permitted, Plum Creek can come right back and apply for another permit for another 89 lots. Plum Creek said “no.”

We proposed that in return for fully developing First Roach Pond, Plum Creek should put the shores of Second and Third Roach Pond under conservation easement, ensuring that those lakes would remain undeveloped. Plum Creek said “no.” Given that response, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what Plum Creek has in store for those lakes.

We proposed that Plum Creek limit development along the Lily Bay Road leading to First Roach Pond in order to avoid the unsightly strip development that will inevitably occur. “No thanks,” said Plum Creek.

We suggested that Plum Creek protect the trail up Fourth Mountain, overlooking the lake. “No way,” said Plum Creek. They want to continue to harvest right across the trail, destroying a lovely day hike and a significant attraction of the Moosehead region.

And we can be sure that every other company that owns large tracts of Maine’s North Woods who has ever thought about developing some of its shorelines is watching. If the Land Use Regulation Commission approves this proposal without beefing up the negligible public benefits it offers, it will be open season for development in the North Woods. Altogether there are 36 lakes across the North Woods in the same zoning category as First Roach Pond that would be ripe for the picking.

So while you are slicing up cranberries this holiday season, Plum Creek is slicing up Maine’s heritage. To learn how you can help to protect Maine’s North Woods, call or email Jeff McEvoy at jmcevoy@nrcm.org or 800-287-2345, ext. 218.

Catherine B. Johnson is the North Woods project director for the Natural Resources Council of Maine.