AUGUSTA — Northern Maine landowners and residents said Wednesday that the state agency that oversees land use in the North Woods should be abolished – or at least made more accountable to the people it regulates.

The Maine Land Use Regulation Commission, they argued, is more interested in protecting the region as a playground for the rest of the state than letting local people and businesses use their private lands to make a living.

"It's gotten out of hand," said Raymond Coffren, a dairy farmer in Salem Township, part of the unorganized territories. "We let you hunt. We let you fish. We let you snowmobile.

"If you keep this up, Mr. LURC, I can assure you, you're going to lose all these rights, because the 'no trespassing' signs and the gates are going to go up."

Coffren and dozens of others spoke Wednesday during an all-day public hearing before the Legislature's Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee. The committee is considering six separate proposals, ranging from abolishing LURC to assigning more of its seven seats to people who live within its jurisdiction.

The proposal to abolish the agency would transfer planning and development oversight to the 13 county governments in the region.

Opponents of the bills, including state officials and conservationists, defended the commission and said it is doing what it was created to do 38 years ago: Manage land use in the forests for the benefit of the entire state.

"The unorganized territories are important to all of Maine, and decisions about development should be made accordingly," said Eliza Townsend, deputy commissioner of the Department of Conservation.

At issue is oversight of those territories – 10.4 million acres of forests that are sparsely populated and have no local governments.

Although mostly privately owned, the area has historically been open to recreational use and is considered one of Maine's defining qualities.

The hearing Wednesday was the latest round in a decades-long feud over control of the North Woods.

Several of the bills presented have been voted on at least once before.

But the frustration with the state's land commission is running higher than usual now because the agency is writing a new comprehensive plan for the region, and landowners and residents fear that it will restrict their rights in the interest of recreational users.

The plan is scheduled to be completed later this year, but would be derailed if the Legislature agrees to abolish the commission.

Also feeding into the frustration was the three-year battle over Plum Creek Timber Co.'s development plans for the Moosehead Lake region.

The commission is expected to issue a final rezoning approval in July.

It held public hearings statewide, and heard strong opposition to the plan from southern Mainers.

"When I saw hearings being conducted in Portland about land use above Greenville, I was incensed. That's wrong," said Rep. Douglas Thomas, R-Ripley, who is sponsoring a bill to limit membership on the commission. "When they develop the Portland waterfront, they don't hold hearings in Ripley."

Supporters of the bills, including representatives of the forest products industry, said the commission treats the region as a park and gives more weight to the views of outsiders than to the landowners and residents it regulates.

"We believe the vision and values of people who live in the jurisdiction should be given equal weight to those outside the district," said Patrick Strauch, executive director of the Maine Forest Products Council, an industry group.

"Is it fair to impose a public park value system on private lands?" said Don White, president of Prentiss and Carlisle, which manages 250,000 acres of timberlands in the region. "It is not a park, and access is a privilege – it's not a right."

Department of Conservation Commissioner Patrick McGowan said LURC, which is an independent branch of his department, is "an efficient and highly effective agency" that carefully balances the competing uses of the region.

"There's a lot going on in the unorganized territories, a lot more than ever," he said. "We're very sensitive to the needs of the people."

McGowan and others said the state commission is better able to manage the forests as one cohesive unit than 13 separate county governments would be if the oversight were divided up.

Other bills would upset the historic balance among users, or make it difficult to fill vacancies on the commission, opponents said.

"I do not view the jurisdiction as a place to be preserved only for conservation and recreation," said Rebecca Abuza of Bar Harbor.

But, she said, the commission "is crucial in maintaining the natural and cultural values we all share."
"This content originally appeared as a copyrighted article in the Thursday, April 23, 2009 edition of the Bangor Daily NEWS and is used here with permission."