Plum Creek Plan – Fact of the Week
What’s Changed?

Conservation:

Donated Permanent Conservation Easements
Previous Plan: 11,000 acres New Plan: 71,000 + acres

Moosehead Legacy Conservation Easement
Previous Plan: None New Plan: 269,000 acres

Sale of the Roaches to the State of Maine
Previous Plan: 27,000 acres New Plan: 27,000 acres

Residential & Resort Development:

Remote Pond Lots
Previous Plan: 30 lots on five ponds; 28 lots on Roaches ponds New Plan: None

Moose River Lots
Previous Plan: 30 lots New Plan: None

Shorefront Lots
Previous Plan: 575 New Plan: 480

Back Lots
Previous Plan: 400 New Plan: 495

Two Resorts
Previous Plan: Lily Bay (3,000 acres) New Plan: Lily Bay (500 acres)
Previous Plan: Rockwood (500 acres) New Plan: Relocated to Big Moose Mountain (2,600 acres)

Recreation & Access: 74 miles of snowmobile trails and 70 miles of hiking trails

Plum Creek Plan Website
Please check out a new website dedicated to providing information about the changes in the revised Plum Creek plan.

Recreation Zone Designed to Help Rural Tourism
Governor Baldacci signed into law a bill that establishes the Pine Tree Recreation Zone as the area of the state north and east of the Androscoggin River. Businesses that establish or expand within the Pine Tree Recreation Zone operations, involving outdoor recreation, such as providing services or merchandise related to guiding, hunting, fishing, skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling, or water sports, would be eligible for tax benefits equal to those offered to businesses under the Pine Tree Development Zone program. These benefits include sales tax exemptions for certain building materials and tangible personal property, exclusion from the calculation of a municipality’s tax increment financing district within the Pine Tree Recreation Zone, employment tax increment financing for a fixed period of years and state income tax credits for a fixed number of years.

Strict eligibility standards defined in the new law cuts off some of Maine's busiest tourism areas from grants and loans backed by the state under the Pine Tree Recreation Zone program. The program will focus on small, mom-and-pop oriented businesses in natural- resources-based tourism who typically are not considered bankable and whose facilities need upgrading.

Only 10 of the 31 Labor Market Areas in Maine qualify for the program due to a population density limit of less than 30 people per square mile. These 10 areas are Rumford, Farmington, Presque Isle, Houlton, Dover-Foxcroft, Millinocket, Lincoln, Machias, Calais and Skowhegan.

The program will offer low-interest loans or outright grants to help smaller tourism businesses stay afloat, particularly hunting and fishing camps and other outdoor operations in some of the most remote areas of Maine.

The Maine Department of Economic and Community Development, and other departments that must join the talks including Agriculture, Conservation, Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Environmental Protection and Marine Resources - will be gathering opinions from the public and businesses within the zone in at least four public meetings. A strategic plan implementing the program must be submitted to the Legislature by next February.

National Animal Rights Group Threatens DIF&W
A national animal rights group is threatening to sue the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (DIF&W) under the federal Endangered Species Act unless the state takes steps to prevent eagles, lynx and gray wolves from inadvertent capture in traps and snares.

Claiming that more than two dozen lynx and bald eagles have been accidentally trapped or snared in Maine during the past dozen years, the California- based Animal Rights Institute called on DIF&W to remedy the threat posed by traps and snares "by removing them from the geographic range of these species," essentially placing most of the state off- limits to trapping.

Skip Trask from the Maine Trappers Association expressed the opinion that the real motivation behind this threat is banning all trapping in Maine and elsewhere. "I'm always concerned when these groups abuse the Endangered Species Act to further their own agenda," Trask said. Trask also noted that trappers never want to catch a lynx or eagle and are careful to avoid it.

State Still Seeking Buyer for G-P Mill
With the state's 60-day deadline for finding a buyer for the Georgia-Pacific mill in Old Town expiring on May 15th, attempts to find a buyer for the facility are ongoing. Mill officials have been working with the state to allow time to find a new buyer and the more than 400 workers will continue to be paid until the 60- day period ends. In addition to closing the mill, G-P closed its four chip mills in Milo, Costigan, Houlton and Portage.

Upcoming Events of Interest
GrowSmart Maine has scheduled nine public listening sessions in late April - from Presque Isle to Eastport to Alfred - to gather insights and opinions to help guide GrowSmart and the Brookings Institution toward drafting a report this summer that asks the question, "How Can we Build Prosperity Without Losing our Unique Character?"

April 25, 7:30-9:00 a.m. GrowSmart Listening Session at Caribou Tech High School in Caribou (Houlton High School and Fort Kent High School will have the session available via ATM)

April 25, 12:30-2:00 p.m. GrowSmart Listening Session in Eastport at the Episcopal Church Institute on Key Street

April 25, 6:30-8:00 p.m. GrowSmart Listening Session in Dover-Foxcroft at the Penquis Higher Education Center

April 26, 7:30-9:00 a.m. GrowSmart Listening Session in Farmington at the UMF Olsen Student Center

April 26, 12:00-1:30 p.m. GrowSmart Listening Session in Waterville at Roberts Union (Colby College)

April 26, 6:30-8:00 p.m. GrowSmart Listening Session at the Camden Opera House in Camden

April 27, 7:30-9:00 a.m. GrowSmart Listening Session at the Scarborough Public Library in Scarborough

April 27, 12:00-1:30 p.m. GrowSmart Listening Session at Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick

April 27, 6:30-8:00 p.m. GrowSmart Listening Session at the Conant Chapel in Alfred

May 19th: Rally for the Maine Mountain Heritage Area at the University of Maine at Farmington from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The rally will focus on pilot projects aimed at the economic development of the four-county region that stretches from the New Hampshire border to Mount Katahdin. Pilot projects include an information center on U.S. Route 201 in Solon, walking tours in Farmington and Skowhegan and the Run of the River project in Skowhegan. Those and other plans promoting the state's inland tourism potential will be part of a traveling exhibit to begin this summer in the region. Those planning to attend the May 19 event at UMF are asked to register. Forms are available on line at www.mainemountains.org or by calling 778-3885. To learn more about the Network, please go to www.mainemountains.org. To learn more about nationally designated heritage areas, go to www.cr.nps.gov/heritageareas.

May 26th: The Composite Technology Center is hosting a discussion by its Executive Director, Gordon Davis, entitled, “How the Composite Technology Centers Can Help You Grow Your New Technology or Wood Based Venture” on Friday May 26th from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Greenville Business Incubator Building at 76 Spruce Street in Greenville. The cost is $12.00 (payable the day of the seminar), $5.00 for students. Lunch is provided. Pre-registration is encouraged but not required. To pre-register contact Cindy Hanscom at the Greenville Town Office at 207-695-2421 or Cindy@GreenvilleME.com.

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