Plum Creek at Roach Pond: No success story

As their proposal for development in the Moosehead region is presented to the Land Use Regulation Commission, Plum Creek Timber Co. is calling Roach Pond its success story. It is certainly not a success story for Roach Pond, local residents, wildlife or future generations.

On the recommendation of a friend who suggested, “Why don’t you go to Moosehead Lake? It’s God’s country, you know,” my husband and I took a long weekend and went to Moosehead Lake in 1984. In those three days we fell in love with the Moosehead region.

I can’t tell you if it was more the woodland, the wildlife or the peace and tranquility that emanated from it all. What I can say is, “We needed more!,” and in April 1985 we bought our camp on First Roach Pond. From that time on we planned for the day when we could spend some real time here.

In 2001, my first chance to stay at our camp the whole summer, Plum Creek came to Roach Pond to announce its development. Plum Creek promised us they would be good neighbors and calmed our fears by stating that it was a 25-year plan to be implemented in three segments of five years each. They even stated to a friend of mine that the process would go so slowly, we would “hardly notice it.” Contrary to that promise, 80 percent of the lots were sold within the first calendar year.

Frenchtown Road is a county gravel road running for six miles along the south side of First Roach Pond. All the new Plum Creek development roads and driveways were built from Frenchtown Road and the gravel pits in the area, leaving local residents in a construction-chaos zone eight to 10 hours daily for two years. The gravel trucks and dust made driving hazardous and residents had health and pollution concerns. On one particular afternoon drive down Frenchtown Road, I met with so much dust that I coughed until I fell asleep at 11 p.m.

Then Plum Creek cut down much of the shade canopy on Frenchtown Road. Now, today with the traffic tripled and the shade tree canopy gone, the dust has become a more permanent and pervasive problem. The man who maintains our rural road informed us that the dust has grown beyond the control measures he has used for years.

One neighbor, who has been fishing his favorite spot since 1959, is no longer able to because of the dust.

Additionally, the wildlife has suffered. In a stretch of woodland behind my camp on Frenchtown Road, barred and great horned owls have nested and raised their young for the 17 years I’ve been here. They disappeared with the construction and have not returned. How I miss their evening calls.

The residents of First Roach Pond Improvement Association sent a written request to Plum Creek asking for a buffer zone to save the remaining shade trees on Frenchtown Road. Plum Creek sent a letter back refusing to give us a buffer zone, making them the first timber company not to work with us on this issue.

The North Inlet is the jewel of the Roach Ponds. It is an area of about 400 acres of shallow water cut off from the main body of First Roach. It is simply pristine wilderness and home to nesting bald eagles. It is a haven for wildlife and nature lovers alike. On evening boat trips, one could count on up to 30 moose sightings within a couple hours. My family and I had the thrill of sighting two bald eagles perched high on the same branch.

Verbally and with written requests, we begged Plum Creek not to develop this area that had so much meaning to us. However, six new lots were sold at the entrance to the North Inlet. Now, after the roads have been put in, one may go over there and not spot a single moose the whole evening.

Additionally, residents are investigating the questionable logging practices that are silting our pond. The Roach Ponds contain some of the last remaining spawning habitat for brook trout and landlocked salmon in the region. This siltation harms and destroys the fragile habitat necessary for spawning and for frye.

I live here now, but my reasons for doing so are disappearing one by one. The owls are gone, the shade canopy is cut, North Inlet has been compromised, the pond has been silted and the dust has become a significant problem.

The urban and suburban United States offers ample opportunity to each individual to fulfill physical, social and recreational needs. The wilderness fills deeper human needs. Please let us keep suburbia in the appropriate places and preserve our wilderness.

The Roach Ponds are habitat for nesting bald eagles, barred and great horned owls, brook trout, landlocked salmon and Canada lynx. I am asking LURC and Plum Creek to please protect this treasure.

I am requesting that LURC send staff members to Roach Pond to conduct an impact study of the current development and to use this study as valuable information as they move forward and make decisions about this new proposal.

Joan Marie Wisher is a resident of First Roach Pond, where her husband and she bought a camp 20 years ago.