Largest Fine for Logging Law Violations in Maine History and Widespread Damage to Deer Wintering Habitat NRCM news release Documents gathered using Maine’s Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) disclose that this year Plum Creek was charged a $57,000 fine — the largest fine ever assessed in history for breaking Maine’s timber harvesting laws. Other documents Read More
Forests and Wildlife
NRCM works to protect Maine’s natural areas and wild, undeveloped character, particularly in the North Woods. We support responsible land development and sustainable forest practices that protect sensitive ecosystems and wildlife. We work for increased public ownership of Maine lands, so future generations will know the Maine we love today.
Protection of Maine’s natural, remote areas was one of the issues for which NRCM was founded in 1959. More than 60 years later, much progress has been made but major threats to Maine’s land and water resources continue.
Read news & blogs about our work to protect Maine's forests and wildlife.
Allagash Wilderness Waterway Deserves Stronger Protection
By Dean and Sheila Bennett Maine Sunday Telegram op-ed On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the creation of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, it is important to recognize and appreciate what the voters of Maine did in November 1966 when they approved a bond issue to develop the maximum wilderness character of the land Read More
More Mainers Oppose Plum Creek Plan for Moosehead
Poll Shows Growing Opposition Despite Plum Creek Media Campaign AUGUSTA, MAINE – A new public opinion poll reveals that Maine people by a growing and overwhelming margin oppose Plum Creek’s proposed development for the Moosehead Lake region. The survey results are striking because they come after Plum Creek Real Estate Investment Trust has funded a Read More
Plum Creek Version 2.0: the Devil is in the Details
By Cathy Johnson, NRCM North Woods Project Director Bangor Daily News op-ed Plum Creek has now submitted Version 2.0, the revised version of its massive development plan to transform the Moosehead Lake region. As with Version 1.0, their original plan, it is crucial to read the fine print, rather than rely on Plum Creek’s ceaseless Read More
200 Years of Troubled Waters for Atlantic Salmon
By Kevin Miller, staff writer Bangor Daily News news story Atlantic salmon did not disappear from New England rivers overnight. Rather, North American populations of this resilient fish beloved by anglers for its fight and by food aficionados for its flavor has suffered what some describe as “death by a thousand cuts” over the past Read More
Atlantic Salmon Fishing Returns to Maine
Portland Press Herald editorial It’s not a long season, there are plenty of restrictions and fishermen can’t keep their catch. But starting this morning, anglers will once more be angling for sea-run Atlantic salmon in Maine. The month-long, experimental season is limited to a short stretch of the Penobscot, the river that has the healthiest Read More
Legal Muscle Lined Up for Plum Creek Battle
By Gregory D. Kesich, Portland Press Herald writer Portland Press Herald news story Plum Creek Timber Co.’s proposal to rezone more than 400,000 acres in the Moosehead Lake region promises to be the biggest development in Maine history, and the fight about its approval promises to be one of the state’s most complicated legal battles. Read More
Moosehead — Furor in the Forest
By Jeff Clark Down East Magazine Plum Creek is proposing the largest development in Maine history around Moosehead Lake. Is this the end of the North Woods or its economic salvation? Either way northern Maine will never be the same. Luke Muzzy figures that twenty years from now the people of Greenville will either consider Read More
Plum Foolish
By Ted Williams Audubon Magazine If the plan for Maine’s biggest development ever goes through, it could spell disaster for millions of acres of forestland across the northeast. For 40 years I’ve been collecting images from Maine’s north woods: the unbroken canopy of green flashing past as my crewmates from the old Kennebec Log Drive Read More