Tuesday, July 26, 2005 2:00 pm
Environmental activists launch campaign against Moosehead project
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Former Green Party gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Carter said the "Save Moosehead" campaign will pursue every "political, legal and legislative" avenue to halt what he and other opponents characterized as wilderness sprawl.
"We´re going to attack from all sides," said Carter, director of the Forest Ecology Network. As a final resort, he said, opponents of the project are prepared to circulate petitions to force a statewide referendum to stop the project.
Plum Creek filed its 570-page application in April with the state Land Use Regulation Commission, which plans a series of public "scoping sessions" next month to discuss what issues the panel should consider in its review of the project.
The development calls for 975 house lots, two resorts, three recreational-vehicle parks, a golf course, a marina and rental cabins around Moosehead Lake.
The state´s largest environmental advocacy organization, the Natural Resources Council of Maine, came out last month in opposition to what would be the state´s largest subdivision, calling it out of scale and out of character for the region.
Cathy Johnson, NRCM´s North Woods project director, said the emergence of a new coalition is further evidence that more people across the state are concerned about the huge changes that the Plum Creek development would bring.
"I wouldn´t be surprised if you see other groups organizing in the future," said Johnson, adding that the opponents "are all talking to each other."
In defending the plan, Plum Creek said 98 percent of the 426,000 acres involved in the project would be left untouched. The Seattle-based company said the project would stimulate economic development and create much-needed jobs while preserving working forest and restricting future development.
Jim Lehner, Plum Creek´s regional general manager, said opposition to the project by environmental groups was not unexpected or beyond the level that his company had foreseen.
"The opponents tend to be very vocal, the supporters tend not to be," Lehner said. "We´re very pleased with the support we´ve received, particularly in the Moosehead Lake area."
Carter said Plum Creek deceived Mainers when it bought 900,000 acres seven years ago and said it had no plans to carve it up "for vacation homes and other types of development that are incompatible with Maine´s wildland heritage."
He suggested $100,000 in fund-raising might be necessary to get the program under way. He declined to discuss details of a possible referendum campaign or say how the question might be framed. He said he didn´t want to "tip our hand."
John Demos, representing American Lands, said the campaign will seek to focus national attention on the need to block the project.
Demos said the Moosehead region is of "tremendous national importance as part of the largest contiguous undeveloped forest region east of the Mississippi" _ land that should be protected forever for the benefit of future generations.
State Rep. John Eder, the Legislature´s only Green Party member, said he will lead an effort to inform his colleagues about the magnitude and implications of the project.
Also joining in the coalition was Jym St. Pierre, director of RESTORE: The North Woods, a conservation group that has spearheaded the campaign for a national part in northern Maine.
"The Plum Creek development proposal is the greatest stingle threat to the ecological and economic integrity of the Maine woods in generations," said St. Pierre, who characterized the national park plan as an alternative "that would permanently protect what the public cherishes about this region."
