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
Plum Creek's Massive Moosehead Proposal
In April 2005, Seattle-based Plum Creek submitted a development proposal for the Moosehead Lake region that was the largest development ever proposed in Maine. The company’s proposal called for 975 house lots, 2 resorts, a golf course, a marina, 3 RV parks—with convenience stores, beauty salons, and gas stations—and more than 100 rental cabins, right in the heart of Maine’s spectacular Moosehead Lake region.
NRCM was the first organization to oppose this plan, which, in addition to too much development in the wrong places, proposed no additional permanent conservation. NRCM spoke out, and so did the people of Maine, including residents of the Moosehead region. As a result of NRCM’s work, the Plum Creek plan was improved — less sprawling, with much improved required conservation measures, and with proposed development removed from remote ponds and other areas.
Plum Creek Holding Conservation Hostage to Development
COLUMN: Theo Stein Portland Press Herald op-ed Is it or isn’t it? Is Plum Creek’s much-ballyhooed “conservation framework” part of its application to the Land Use Regulation Commission for an unprecedented rezoning around Moosehead Lake — or isn’t it? Is Plum Creek’s demand that LURC approve its 975-lot, two-resort development plan before conservation groups pay Read More
LURC Questions Plum Creek on Resorts, Housing
Bangor Daily News news story Maine’s Land Use Regulation Commission has asked Plum Creek Timber Co. for more information on the resorts, affordable housing, and roads proposed in the company’s subdivision plans for Moosehead Lake. LURC staff also billed Plum Creek more than $141,000 – on top of the $128,000 already paid by the Seattle 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
LURC Seeking Clarification of Plum Creek Plan
Bangor Daily News news story State regulators are urging Plum Creek to be more transparent about the details of a land conservation deal tied to the company’s controversial development plans for Moosehead Lake. Back in March, Plum Creek Timber Co. held a high-profile press event in Augusta to unveil a proposal to protect more than 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
Groups and Local Residents Raise Concerns About Plum Creek’s Massive Development Proposal
* Natural Resources Council of Maine * Maine Audubon * AUGUSTA—At a State House news conference today, the executive directors of Maine’s two leading environmental organizations were joined by Moosehead Lake-area business owners and residents in detailing their serious concerns about Plum Creek’s revised development plan. Seattle-based Plum Creek, a Real Estate Investment Trust and Read More
NRCM Statement about Plum Creek’s Revised Plan
Over the past month, the staff at the Natural Resources Council of Maine has carefully evaluated Plum Creek’s 1,000+-page revised proposal for development around Moosehead Lake. We have met with many residents of the Moosehead Lake region to hear their reactions to the new plan. We have visited almost every single location that the company Read More
LURC Board Unanimously Rejects Moosehead Lake Development
NRCM news release Today at their public meeting in Dover Foxcroft, the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission voted 5-0 to unanimously reject a proposed 70 lot subdivision at Burnt Jacket Mountain on Moosehead Lake. This discussion and vote is seen by many as indicative of how LURC might proceed during their deliberation on Plum Creek’s Read More