The company submitted a new plan last month to the state Land Use Regulation Commission in connection with its request for a zone change. That change would allow for the phased-in development of 975 house lots and two resorts on about 11,000 acres in the Moosehead Lake region.

About 40 percent of the development would be in Piscataquis County; the rest, in Somerset County.

At the same time, the Seattle-based company announced it would permanently conserve some 400,000 acres through partnerships with The Nature Conservancy, the Appalachian Mountain Club and the Forest Society of Maine if the plan is approved, a Plum Creek official told commissioners during a presentation Tuesday. "It guarantees that that playground we've always used will be there," said Luke Muzzy, the company's senior land asset manager.

The plan has the support of the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council's executive committee, said Mark Scarano, the council's executive director. The proposed development would benefit the region's dwindling population, Scarano said.

Since 1960, the Monson, Shirley, Greenville, Beaver Cove and Jackman areas combined have lost more than 25 percent of their population, Scarano said. Job creation is equally important, as is a predictable supply of timber and public access to the land, he said.

Plum Creek employs 45 people in four offices around the state, according to Muzzy. In addition, it contracts with about 600 workers and supplies logs and pulp for 70 mills in the state.

The impact of Plum Creek's plan would be felt well beyond the borders of Greenville, according to Scarano.

Plum Creek has commissioned Eastern Maine Development Corp. to study the development plan's effects on fire protection, traffic, schools, hospitals, landfills and other services in the region. That study has not been completed, Muzzy said.

When LURC, which serves as the planning and zoning board for the state's Unorganized Territory, accepts the concept plan as complete, public hearings will be held throughout the state. It is expected that the process will take about a year before LURC acts on the zone change request.

"I think it's a great plan," interim Piscataquis County Manager Owen Pratt said Tuesday. "I think this is the way to go."
"This content originally appeared as a copyrighted article in the Thursday, May 18, 2006 edition of the Bangor Daily NEWS and is used here with permission."