Plum Creek

The LURC public-comment period on this issue closed March 14, 2008, with more than 2,000 letters received in opposition to Plum Creek's plan, and about 100 received in support.

Maine Audubon thanks all who took the time to let LURC staff and commissioners learn your views about this unprecedented proposal. LURC staff is now analyzing extensive testimony about the proposal, and is expected this spring to suggest changes that would make it meet LURC criteria.

Following Hearing, Plum Creek Dismisses Concerns

Four weeks of a formal hearing in January made clear that Plum Creek’s plan to rezone for development more than 400,000 acres it owns around Moosehead Lake does not meet the criteria of Maine’s Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC). Seattle-based Plum Creek is the nation’s largest commercial landowner.

More than 60 experts on conservation and tourism, including scientists from state and federal natural-resource agencies and organizations, submitted testimony and were extensively examined as part of the formal hearing held by LURC. Among them were three Maine Audubon staff scientists.

In addition, hundreds of Maine residents braved winter’s deep freeze to speak at four public comment sessions LURC held in Augusta, Greenville, and Portland. The commission has received more than 2,000 written comments expressing concerns with Plum Creek’s plan, with fewer than 100 comments submitted in support.

Plum Creek proposes rezoning, subdivisions, and commercial development which, compared to the scale of what currently exists in the Moosehead region, would permit development equivalent to two or three towns. LURC is expected to provide an analysis of the proposal this spring.

Experts Concerned

Maine Audubon is a formal intervener in LURC’s review of Plum Creek’s proposal, coordinating our legal strategy with the Natural Resources Council of Maine. We have identified more than 50 specific, recurring ways it would harm wildlife, water quality, wetlands, fisheries, recreational experiences, and the natural character of the Moosehead region.

In brief summary:

• Inappropriate locations of proposed development would unacceptably harm wildlife, habitat, and scenic character;

• The excessive amount of development would overwhelm wildlife habitat and the natural characteristics that make the Moosehead Lake region unique; and

• The proposal rewrites LURC rules to exclusively benefit Plum Creek.

(Fuller summaries of our concerns, such as how the plan could harm loons, wood turtle, Canada lynx, brook trout, and rusty blackbirds, can be found here.)

Public comment sessions and the formal hearing on the unprecedented Plum Creek proposal gave people the chance to hear, openly and for the first time, the depth, extent, and likely impacts of changes Plum Creek is proposing—considerable changes that extend to Maine land-use rules. It was clear in many instances that our experts were more knowledgeable than Plum Creek’s witnesses about the plan’s specific components and key impacts.

Plum Creek Unconcerned

When the formal hearing ended in January, LURC staff was ordered to draft a list of specific revisions the proposal needs to meet LURC criteria. The commission also asked Plum Creek and formal intervenors to identify “deficiencies” in the company’s proposal and suggest “how these deficiencies are resolvable.”

But in its first opportunity to respond to the lists of concerns experts and the public have raised, Plum Creek has chosen not to do so, instead filing a lengthy post-hearing brief that does not acknowledge any deficiencies in its plan. Over 156 pages, the company suggests there is no room for improvement.

In contrast, Maine Audubon has filed briefs with LURC that address significant revisions the proposal needs to ensure strong conservation, protect wildlife and the region’s character, and provide sustainable economic benefits to the local community.

Questions? E-mail advocacy@maineaudubon.org or call (207) 781-2330, ext. 222. Please keep visiting our Web site for updates.