BANGOR – In a divided decision, Penobscot County commissioners on Tuesday sided with a Lincoln landowner who opposes placement of his land on the National Register of Historic Places.

The property consists of more than 20 buildings – from a main lodge to eight log cabin guesthouses and six historic outhouses – sitting on eight acres on Katahdin Lake.

Called the Katahdin Lake Wilderness Camps, it is one of a dwindling number of sports camps in the state and one of a few that are so remote that access is only via plane, foot or pack animals, said Christi Mitchell, an architectural historian with the Maine Historic Preservation Commission.

Parts of the camp date back to 1880, and well-known painters such as Marsden Hartley used the land as vantage points for capturing the beauty of Mount Katahdin.

But the land’s owner, William Gardner of Gardner Land Co., opposes the historic designation, citing a Jan. 8 letter he wrote to the commission that said his company was neither informed nor involved in the nomination.

Instead, the nomination was proffered by Alfred and Suzan Cooper, who are the current licensees of the land, a short-term license granted to them by the previous owners.

Gardner’s letter also raised the issue of landowners’ rights, with Gardner writing that the Coopers are precluded from encumbering the land without his permission.

On Tuesday, Penobscot County Commissioners Dick Blanchard, a Democrat, and Tom Davis, a Republican, supported Gardner, who they saw as fighting for his rights as a landowner.

The two commissioners said they were concerned and that if the land were taken as a preservation site, then hunting, fishing, snowmobiling and other uses would be restricted.

“I believe that the property owner still has some rights in the state,” Davis said.

And if state or federal agencies or environmental groups wanted the land, they should buy it, providing Gardner was willing to sell it, they said.

Commissioner Peter Baldacci, a Democrat, broke from the other two commissioners, arguing that more information about the impact and public interest was needed before they should vote on the issue. Baldacci also said that Gardner’s letter took care of the opposition notification anyway.

Christi Mitchell disagreed with the assertions that the designation will open the land up further to the public or place strict conservation requirements on it.

She said that the designation is about recognizing history and is not an issue about private land ownership rights.

Placing the land on the National Register of Historic Places doesn’t obligate Gardner to do anything different to his land and could offer tax benefits or qualify for federal funding, Mitchell said.

The designation doesn’t even require Gardner to restore or maintain the property as long as there’s no federal license, permit or funding involved. Owners can still do whatever the want to do with their land, she said.

Instead, Mitchell added, the listing helps to raise the consciousness of people about the historic significance of such sporting camps that once numbered more than 300, but are now down to a quarter or less of that.

“This is an honor, not a regulatory process,” she said.

The 11-member Maine Historic Preservation Commission is scheduled to meet Friday to review and vote on whether to forward the designation to federal authorities for formal approval.