Plum Creek calls plan ‘modest’ 1,000-page document includes maps, analyses

AUGUSTA – Plum Creek officials are touting their Moosehead Lake plans as an unprecedented opportunity for reasonable and “modest” development that stimulates the economy yet still preserves the wild character of Maine’s North Woods.

At more than 1,000 pages in length, Plum Creek Timber Co.’s rezoning application for the Moosehead region is chock full of maps, analyses and bureaucratic paperwork intended to win over Maine’s Land Use Regulation Commission.

But the application’s first 20 pages offer a glance at the company’s likely battle plan during the coming regulatory brawl. LURC staff must certify the application, filed Thursday, as complete before beginning the public review process.

Throughout the application’s introductory remarks, Plum Creek officials repeatedly tout the company’s offer to conserve more than 400,000 acres around Moosehead. Additionally, the company claims its plan contains less development per acre – and considerably more land preservation – than any concept plan previously approved by LURC.

“In sum, this plan provides the opportunity for 413,000 acres (twice the size of Baxter State Park) of permanent conservation in exchange for modest development,” the introduction states. “Indeed, when fully implemented, the plan will achieve one of the largest land protection and conservation deals in United States history.”

Critics likely will disagree with the company’s use of the word “modest,” however.

The Seattle-based timber company wants to sell 975 house lots and build two resorts on roughly 11,000 acres near Moosehead, Maine’s biggest lake and the symbolic gateway to the undeveloped North Woods.

Roughly half of those lots would be located on the shores of Moosehead or six neighboring lakes and ponds. The remaining 495 would be “backwoods” lots, many of which likely would offer stunning views of the surrounding water and wilderness. Although prices have not been set, the lots are expected to fetch top dollar.

Plum Creek and its supporters portray the plan as a thoughtful blend of development and conservation that will bring much-needed jobs and tourism dollars to the region.

The company moved some of the house lots closer to Greenville and other nearby communities in response to residents’ concerns over sprawl, and it relocated one resort to Big Moose Mountain. A resort planned for Lily Bay peninsula also was scaled down.

Opponents have dismissed the aspects of the plan revealed in recent weeks as sprawl that will result in few permanent jobs, strain local infrastructure and ruin the wilderness character that makes Moosehead a tourist destination.

In the introductory statements, Plum Creek officials also stress that the conservation plan is contingent on LURC approval of Plum Creek’s concept plan.

Company officials point out that Plum Creek still could build hundreds of houses – perhaps 1,000 or more -on the 421,000 acres it wants rezoned around Moosehead under Maine’s traditional subdivision laws without setting aside conservation land.

By submitting a concept plan, the company officials state, Plum Creek is agreeing to set aside potentially large swaths of land for conservation and getting the public more involved in the review process.

“The predictability afforded by an approved concept plan helps provide the public with an accurate portrait of what development will occur, where it will occur and what areas will not be developed,” the company states.

“Equally important in terms of preserving the cultural heritage of the region and enabling local businesses to invest with confidence, the plan guarantees forever the tradition of access to Plum Creek lands upon which the public depends.”

But some environmental groups have criticized Plum Creek’s conservation proposal as well as the way it was negotiated.

Plum Creek has offered to set aside 72,000 acres as conservation land at no cost in order to “balance” out the development. LURC requires concept plans to contain conservation land to compensate for development.

The remaining 341,000 acres could be conserved through outright purchase or conservation easements financed by outside groups. The company partnered with The Nature Conservancy, the Appalachian Mountain Club and the Forest Society of Maine to negotiate the conservation framework.

Diano Circo, the North Woods policy advocate with the Natural Resources Council of Maine, criticized Plum Creek for saying the conservation framework is contingent on LURC’s approval.

“The conservation is tied to Plum Creek getting what they want right now,” Circo said. “Plum Creek can walk away at any time … unless they get exactly what they want.”

Circo had not read the revised concept plan yet but was familiar with details that have trickled out over the past several weeks through the company and the media.

He disagreed with Plum Creek statements that the company had consolidated development closer to communities. Based on Circo’s calculations, between 90 percent and 94 percent of the development in the original plan was still in the same location in the new plan.

“It doesn’t look like Plum Creek listened to what people had to say,” Circo said.

Copies of Plum Creek’s concept plan are available in Augusta, Greenville, Rockwood, Beaver Cove and Jackman. LURC staff also will prepare an electronic copy of the application upon request.

The plan also is available online at www.maine.gov/doc/lurc or call LURC staff at 287-2631.