Sun Journal editorial Last week, the Natural Resources Council of Maine publicized stunning documents detailing forestry mismanagement and violations by Plum Creek. The Seattle-based company was assailed for aggressive logging that imperiled wildlife habitats, specifically deer wintering areas, across its sprawling land holdings in Maine. Individually, the violations seem minor. But as NRCM correctly notes, 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’s Violations Suggest More Oversight Needed
Portland Press Herald editorial There’s a lot to be said for Maine’s cooperative approach to managing natural resources in the North Woods. Most of the state’s 10.4 million acres of unorganized territories are privately owned. Given that fact and the realities of politics, laws and regulations are always going to yield lowest-common- denominator-type protections at Read More
Group Turns Up Heat on Plum Creek
By Kevin Miller Bangor Daily News news story AUGUSTA – An environmental group is ratcheting up the heat on Plum Creek Timber Co. in a report released Wednesday that details fines against the company, permit problems and logging in areas important to deer survival during winter. The Natural Resources Council of Maine said the report Read More
Investigation Exposes Plum Creek Violations
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
A Place for Conservation
Bangor Daily News editorial Plum Creek’s private agreement to conserve more than 340,000 acres in the Moosehead Lake region should remain separate from the state’s consideration of the company’s application to develop house lots and resorts on other land it owns in the region. The company’s $35 million agreement with The Nature Conservancy, Forest Society Read More
Plum Creek Inks Deal to Protect Land
By Kevin Miller Bangor Daily News news story A coalition of conservation groups has agreed to pay Plum Creek roughly $35 million to protect permanently more than 340,000 acres of forestland central to the company’s massive Moosehead Lake development plan. Back in March, Plum Creek Timber Co. officials said they had brokered tentative agreements with 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 Tactics in Montana Criticized
By Kevin Miller Bangor Daily News news story A veteran of Montana’s wildlife conservation efforts criticized Plum Creek’s record out West on Monday and urged Mainers to “drive a hard bargain” as the company pursues its development plans for Moosehead Lake. A Plum Creek representative, meanwhile, said the company has a long history of working 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
