Put a stop to the Maine land grab

John Frachella’s op-ed, “Sovereignty is not just a tribal issue” (BDN, May 27), was right on target. We are losing our state to the out-of-staters – rich individuals, investment groups and a multitude of so-called environmental-conservation organizations with deep pockets.

In Washington County a group called the Downeast Lakes Land Trust organized mostly by guides from Grand Lakes Stream. Their interest is to purchase on West Grand Lake approximately 27,000 acres to be harvested by their sustainable forestry standards. In order to raise the money needed for their purchase, they teamed up with the New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) due to its ability to raise money. The project now includes about 342,000 acres at a cost of $30 million and encompasses all or parts of at least 28 towns or townships in northern Washington County.

Unfortunately, we are not just talking about unorganized townships, but also towns. As a selectman in Baileyville, I am seriously concerned about losing one-third of the town to NEFF. Some of the affected towns are Lambert Lake, Vanceboro, Talmadge, Waite, Topsfield, Princeton, Alexander, Crawford, Cooper and Wesley.

Twenty-seven thousand acres will be owned and controlled by the Downeast Lakes Land Trust based in Grand Lake Stream and the rest will be in the form of “conservative easements” controlled by NEFF whose head office is in Massachusetts.

The deal was struck with Wagner, a forest management company that manages this land for some out-of-state consortium. Wagner will still own the harvesting rights, but the harvesting guidelines will be agreed upon with NEFF by someone’s “sustainable forestry” practices. The deadline for the deal is scheduled for December 2004.

People who own camps on leased land are concerned about the threat to their “little piece of heaven” they and their families have enjoyed for years. Are they going to be treated like Roxanne Quimby has treated the people on her township near Patten?

Thomas Urquhart stated in his op-ed, “Conserving a way of life” (BDN, July 20), “… the partnership has created a model for northern Maine: a forest conservation project that is community incubated, community supported, community led.” That’s true with the community being Grand Lake Stream, a neighboring community with a very unneighborly attitude.

The guides are trying to protect their interests, which is to provide a sporting playground for the out-of-state money. That’s OK, but I’m concerned about the forest-harvesting industry also which has provided excellent paying jobs in the mills.

The “community” that should have been involved in this is the area communities. All concerns should have been aired and a common approach taken to assure sustainable forestry for the mills and the wildlife on which the guides depend. We’ve been good stewards for the environment for more than 300 years of wood harvesting. Concerns we have as a group need to be taken to the Legislature and addressed through legislation and enforcement. Baileyville is a mill town and the mills here have a $30 million impact locally and the guiding services have a $5 million impact. Both are important.

A few legislative suggestions include:

. Forget the bond money for state purchases. We have many pressing needs for our scarce financial resources. Pass laws now to protect our rights to recreate and work. Neither Quimby nor any group should be allowed to shut us out of our traditional way of life in Maine, the way life should be. Or will it be the way life was?

. As two or three recent Bangor Daily News articles suggest, make the Land Use Regulation Commission a better working organization with a very open agenda.

. No bodies of water should be shut off from individual ownership but strict guidelines need to be set such as limiting the size of this ownership. The past public-private ownership-partnership with the paper companies and the state has worked well with the exception of fees for access. Working forests with public access need to be set.

. Property cannot be donated to a nonprofit, nontaxpaying entity without legislative approval. The state needs to protect itself from large-scale losses of our productive resources.

. Land sold must be held to an accountability standard. Dianne Tilton, executive director of the Sunrise County Economic Council, suggested that just as businesses have to account for environmental impact of their activities, so should “protecting” groups be held accountable for the economic impact of their activities.

. Laws are needed to protect individual camp owners, sporting camp owners, businesses making a living in our forests, such as guides services or maple sugar businesses, from land sales. The leases and working activities remain and at a fair rate.

. Sustainable forestry guidelines should be set by the University of Maine College of Forestry, one of the best forestry programs in the country, and followed by all.

. Abolish oppressive fees that are limiting access to “our” wild lands and wildlife.

Residents of Maine need to get involved. The “takeover groups” are well organized, are fully involved and well funded. We can reverse damage already done and we can prevent further damage. We don’t have the money but we do have the political clout and we must use it. Contact your legislators and follow their actions in the Legislature. Any legislators out there interested in sponsoring a bill or series of bills?

John Morrison, a resident of Baileyville, is a town selectman and former representative in the 120th Maine Legislature.