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Study needed to gauge effects of RV park

As a member of the business community in the Moosehead region, I agree with John Holyoke’s concern about the effects of Plum Creek’s proposal to develop a 600-acre RV park at Kokadjo near the Roach River (BDN, Aug. 20-21).

While I accept the fact that some level of development in the Moosehead region is inevitable, and maybe even economically beneficial, I am equally concerned about the effects of certain parts of Plum Creek’s proposal on the natural resources of the area. The RV Park next to a valuable tributary of Moosehead is one of my concerns.

The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has spent considerable time and public monies controlling water levels, monitoring swamping, and protecting nursery areas for salmon parr and brook trout fry on the Roach River.

In the mid 1980s, the state bought from Scott Paper Company 250 feet on both sides of the river, and the development rights to an additional 250 feet for a total corridor 1,000 feet wide for the 6.3-mile stretch between First Roach Pond and Moosehead Lake to protect that nursery and protect the river from development.

The chief fisheries’ biologist for DIF&W who advocated for that protection said at that time that half of the salmon in Moosehead, up to 15,000 young fish a year, originate in the Roach River, and that the river is the most valuable spawning and nursery area for fish in Moosehead.

LURC’s criteria for reviewing a concept plan proposal includes an evaluation as to whether any of a proposal causes “undue harm on area resources or uses.” I urge the public to request from LURC that a thorough assessment be conducted on the potential impact of increased fishing pressure and ecosystem disturbance on the cold water fisheries of Moosehead Lake from the proposed RV Park at Kokadjo.

Bob Croce

Greenville

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