By ALAN CROWELL
Staff Writer Tuesday, February 06, 2007

"We are extremely encouraged," said Jim Glavine, vice president of the Moosehead Region Futures Committee, a group founded more than two years ago in reaction to Plum Creek's plans for the region.

Glavine said his group is reserving comment on the plan itself until it is released. But he said for the first time, Plum Creek seems to be responding to concerns about the impact its development could have on the character of the area and on forestry and nature-based tourism.

Cathy Johnson, North Woods project director for the Natural Resources Council of Maine, was less optimistic, but still positive about the changes.

"It does seem to be a step in the right direction," said Johnson, although she said her group learned from Plum Creek's previous submissions that it is important to wait for all the details before passing judgment.

The revised plan is expected to be released by the end of the month. It will be the third incarnation of Plum Creek's plans for more than 400,000 acres it owns around Moosehead Lake, an area considered the gateway to Maine's North Woods and a mecca for hunters, fishermen and hikers.

A first application was submitted in 2005 and then withdrawn after it met with widespread opposition.

A second plan was submitted in April of 2006. Plum Creek announced last month it would revise that plan.

Those revisions will remove development from the shores of several lakes that had been identified as having special value, according to Luke Muzzy, Maine real estate manager for Plum Creek.

Muzzy said the changes are the result of feedback received from the Land Use Regulation Commission and various state and federal agencies.

"A lot of groups, both pro and con, have weighed in (to the commission) on this plan over the last two years and LURC kind of took all that and put it together and gave it to us as feedback," said Muzzy.

It was clear that many people felt several key areas were special, he said.

Lots will be removed from the north peninsula of Brassua Lake, the northwest shore of Moosehead Lake, the westernmost area on Long Pond, the east outlet of the Kennebec River, Indian Pond, the east shore of Upper Wilson Pond and Prong Pond, according to Muzzy. Development also will be scaled back on the west shore of Upper Wilson Pond.

The plan still calls for 975 house lots and the creation of two resorts, including one on Lily Bay and another around Moose Mountain.

The Moose Mountain resort would actually grow in the new plan to compensate for the loss of house lots elsewhere.

Muzzy said the overall amount of land involved will stay the same.

The amount of land to be rezoned for development will grow, although the number of acres that will actually be developed will be similar under the new plan, said Muzzy. The additional land will provide siting flexibility, he said.

Land donated by Plum Creek for easements will increase by about 20 percent, to about 85,000 acres, he said.

Development will be "nestled" within conservation easements that will act as buffers to contain sprawl, said Muzzy. More development will also be located near the towns of Greenville and Rockwood.

Overall, he said, the revisions will do a better job of making sure land is set aside for sustainable forestry and tourism.

Glavine, of the Moosehead Region Futures Committee, said his group gathered information in meetings with hundreds of people and through the creation of an interactive Web site.

"We really gave people an opportunity, a place to speak," he said.

What came out of that outreach was the value of what Glavine called "suites of resources," places where visitors could go hiking, fishing, paddling or climbing, all within a few miles. "One of our major concerns was that development not cause the degradation of these," he said.

Another concern was for the character of the area, he added.

"There is a very special quality to the Moosehead region that unfortunately does not exist anymore in much of New England," he said.

People do not want to see their communities change dramatically, he said.

Glavine said he feels those concerns were heard, both by the commission and by Plum Creek.

"The local voice that was articulated really carried a lot more weight than any of us anticipated," he said.

Johnson, of the Natural Resources Council of Maine, agreed that the changes reflect feedback. "I think the public has sent a very clear message that they were concerned with the adverse effects that Plum Creek's previous proposal would have had on the Moosehead Lake region," Johnson said.

She also said that while some of the changes sound like improvements, there is still a lot not to like about what remains.

There does not seem to be any change to plans for a development on Lily Bay that could include 150 house lots and an additional 250 units in a resort.

Johnson said that is a "huge amount of development in an area that we believe is not appropriate for development."

Alan Crowell -- 474-9534, Ext. 342

acrowell@centralmaine.com