NRCM Releases Video of Moosehead Lake Residents Concerned About the Massive Development Plans
NRCM news release
In the largest outpouring ever experienced by Maine’s Land Use Regulation Commission, more than 5,000 people have now formally registered their opposition to Washington-based Plum Creek’s massive development plan for Maine. The citizen comments were delivered to Maine’s Land Use Regulation Commission by Brownie Carson, Executive Director for the Natural Resources Council of Maine today.
Also today, NRCM released nine 2-3 minute videotaped interviews with Moosehead Lake area residents sharing their concerns about the Plum Creek development proposal. In the video, citizens speak to the impact the proposed development would have on the future of the North Woods and Moosehead Lake Region, the economy of surrounding towns, and the preservation of the nation’s largest remaining undeveloped forest in the East.
“Plum Creek has said they have gone ‘back-to-the-drawing board,’ to revamp their oversized and poorly-sited development proposal that lacked permanent large-scale conservation,” said Carson. “In any new proposal they may put forth we urge Plum Creek to take to heart the comments that we are delivering today from citizens from across the state who love the Moosehead Lake Region.”
Many of the 5,000 citizens sent personal letters to LURC and all signed onto a petition that states:
“Plum Creek’s huge development proposal would spoil the Moosehead Lake area forever due to its unprecedented size, sprawling nature, types of development, and the lack of permanent conservation.
“I believe this proposal would drain locally-owned businesses, impose financial burdens on gateway towns, neglect permanent protection for the forest and wildlife, and scatter subdivisions that will destroy the region’s undeveloped beauty and wilderness character — the key to the region’s nature-based recreation economy and quality of life.
“I urge the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission to reject this proposal and heed the voices of people who love Maine and want to protect it for future generations.”
To create the largest development ever proposed in Maine, Plum Creek is seeking to rezone 426,000 acres of forest that it purchased in 1998 for less than $200 per acre. The land is zoned for timberland and backcountry use. The company seeks to develop at least 975 homes, two resorts and three RV parks on this timberland, surrounding beautiful Moosehead Lake. This area is in the heart of the nation’s largest remaining undeveloped forest east of the Mississippi River.
