Plum Creek

Update

September 23, 2009

Plum Creek Decision Highlights Need for a Vision for Maine Woods

On September 23rd, the Land Use Regulation Commission took a final vote and unanimously approved re-zoning territories along the shores of Moosehead Lake that will pave the way for the largest development project in Maine’s history. Following the vote the Maine Chapter of the Sierra Club posted a mock thank you note to Rick Holley, President and CEO of Seattle-based Plum Creek Timber Company.

“On behalf of the Maine Sierra Club, whose mission it is to “Explore, Enjoy and Protect” the special places of our country, we want to thank the decision-makers at Plum Creek for targeting the heart of the north Maine woods as a key component of the real estate segment of your business plan”, wrote Karen Woodsum who represents the Maine Chapter.  “Your actions, and the subsequent painful years of agency, public and legal deliberations have shaken this State to its roots.  Now, finally, the various stakeholders, who have depended on Maine’s forests, from timber landowners to conservationists, wood workers and recreationists of all stripes, have been drawn together to chart a future that will not include a parade of forest fragmentation and development across this last large natural landscape of the east.”

Well before the 2004 roll-out of the Plum Creek development proposal, the Sierra Club and other Maine conservationists had warned State policymakers that if they didn’t create a vision for the north woods, someone else would.  “Plum Creek development is what happens when you don’t have a plan”, said wilderness volunteer Frank Robey of Stoneham.  What has become clear to many over recent years is that, despite public perception, there is actually strong common ground amongst many of the diverse interests whose vocal representatives have appeared to be sharply polarized at the various regulatory public forums.  That strong common ground is a deep desire to keep Maine’s forests as forests.  In fact, Governor John Baldacci has stated as much in his Maine Woods Legacy initiative and has authorized several collaborative working groups over the past few years to move past the rhetoric and toward solutions.  Those efforts will be successful, because the alternative is just not acceptable.