Part of Plum Creek’s proposed development area is a very sensitive area and should be looked at carefully.

I have been on the local planning board for more than 20 years and have reviewed several subdivisions. I have also developed subdivisions myself and am not against development as long as it is looked at and accepted with everything carefully reviewed.

I have had a place on Moosehead Lake on Carlton Point for 27 years and know the area on Lily Bay very well. I fish there all the time and know a 70-year-old trapper in the area who has trapped there all his life. He has not trapped the area for five years.

I also hold a Masters Well Drillers license and own one of the largest water well-drilling businesses in central Maine. We have drilled several wells in the Lily Bay area and would like to address that subject as well.

The area I would like to address is between Carlton Point and North Brook on Lily Bay.

There is only a short distance between the two and part of the Plum Creek development plan is to put a marina with 190 building lots behind this marina. In back of that, a 3,000-unit resort with a large golf course is planned. In the middle of this shorefront area is Burgess Brook with a lot of wetland.

To start with, this shoreline is very shallow. It’s not a good place for launching boats.

We have watched several pairs of loons make their nest and raise their young there. We also have pictures of herons nesting there.

Many people paddle their canoes here in the morning and evening and watch the moose feed on the lily pads. Some of these people are from Lily Bay State Park across the bay.

The bottom is very shallow and a motor boat churns up the bottom and makes it all mucky.

In the spring, we love to watch the smelts spawn up Burgess Brook and along the shore. The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, along with

a lot of volunteers in the area, has spent a lot of time and money restoring the smelt population around this brook and now has a good balance.

We have also watched the brook trout use this brook for a feeding area and I have caught several trout in this brook year after year.

If a 100 or more boats a day are docked there and churning up this shallow bottom, it will ruin the smelt and brook trout spawning ground. I also don’t believe the loons will keep nesting and raising their young there. The only way a marina would work is if the docks were built way out into the water or the area is dredged. Neither is a very good option.

As I said before, I am not against development, and I think everyone has the right to enjoy what the rest of us enjoy. Therefore, I would like to ask Plum Creek to consider putting their proposed marina farther west on Lily Bay where they are proposing a nine-lot shorefront subdivision. The water is much deeper and the area is not as sensitive as the Burgess Brook area, and there are also two marinas at Lily Bay State Park across the bay which is open to the public.

Let me now address the proposed 190 house lots in the area.

Burgess Brook runs from Moosehead Lake up through the woods and crosses the Carlton Point road. This is the area of the proposed 190 house lots.

As I have stated before, I have watched a trapper trap this area for nearly 30 years and learned a lot about the fur-bearing animals in this area. I can tell you what fur-bearing animals travel this brook by their tracks and when they do.

A family of otters uses this brook as its home and travels it from the beaver dam on the Carlton Point Road to the lake and often we see them swim by the camp. Also, there are several mink that use this brook as a food source for crayfish and frogs. Along the banks and inland the fisher and pine marten (American sable) can be found.

The reason this trapper has not trapped in this area for the past five years is because of what happened to the area a few years ago. Plum Creek (it was Sappi then) strip cut the area and the pine marten and the fisher virtually disappeared after their main food source disappeared from cutting down the soft growth. New growth is coming in and we are starting to see some fisher and pine marten tracks in the snow again.

If strip cutting an area causes these animals to disappear, can you imaging what cutting 190 house lots would permanently do to the area?

I would like to ask Plum Creek to look at spreading these lots out and maybe back away from the areas that these animals need to survive. These animals are not so sensitive in hardwood areas as the main diet of pine marten and fisher is squirrels and rabbits. When you cut down the conifer trees, you are taking away the food source and habitat of the rabbits and squirrels.

Now, I would like to address the water issue for drinking, supporting a 3,000-unit resort and water the proposed golf course. Where is the water going to come from? Without a public water source such as taking water out of Moosehead Lake and putting it through some sort of purification plant, you are probably talking about private water wells.

We have drilled several wells in the Lily Bay area and I can tell you for a fact, with a couple of exceptions, the wells go deep and you don’t end up with much water. The bedrock under this area is hard black shale with very few seams that hold water. This is why the Indians in the area would go to Kineo to make their arrowheads – which is hard flint rock.

I drilled a well last fall in one of Plum Creek’s developments by First Road Pond on the Frenchtown line high up on a hill. The well went 420 feet and we only got a half a gallon per minute. This meets the water flow requirement, but would certainly not be enough for a 3,000-unit resort.

Between this area and Lily Bay is where Plum Creek wants to put in the resort and golf course. I understand the golf course could be watered from the after-results of a sewage treatment plant, but you first have to have a water source. Being on my local planning board and looking at what other boards ask of developers, one important question arises: Is there adequate water for the project?

I would like to stress again, I am not against development. I think all these questions and facts should be addressed and dealt with very carefully. A study of this area should be done by the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, the Forestry Department and the Army Corps of Engineers, if water is to be taken out of Moosehead Lake.

Also, test wells should be done in these area if ground water is to be used.

I realize a business needs to make money and I wish Plum Creek well. Maybe we can all work together to make this work in the best interests of all.

Bob Philbrick is a resident of Sidney and owns a summer home in Lily Bay.