Many who care about Maine’s environment may not be familiar with the relatively unknown state agency that holds the key to the future of much of Maine’s undeveloped areas, including the North Woods and Unorganized Territories (UT). That agency, which was created 50 years ago this month, was originally known as the Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) but is today named the Land Use Planning Commission (LUPC). For almost as long as the LUPC has existed, the Read More
development
Your Voice Matters: Preservation of Maine’s Iconic Moosehead Lake Region
There is a view in Maine, one that is not secret and is likely blazoned upon many a postcard and photograph, that takes my breath away and puts me at ease every time I see it. You only get it for seconds, maybe minutes, before it vanishes, not to be experienced until you return to Read More
Development Pressures Driven by Pandemic Underscore Importance of Smart Planning for Maine’s Future
One sure thing about 2020 is this: Maine real estate was red hot. Driven at least in part by the pandemic and its side effects, the Maine Association of Realtors reported that home sales and prices set records in 2020, including in rural and northern Maine. Real estate transactions were up 39.14% in Washington County, Read More
A Second Chance for the Moosehead Lake Region?
From 2004 through 2009, the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) worked hard to stop Plum Creek’s sprawling development plan for the Moosehead Lake region. During a four-year permitting process that included extensive comments from NRCM, the plan was amended in many ways to reduce impacts on remote ponds and resources; significant conservation was required; Read More
News & Noteworthy — September 2019
September 30, 2019 As September comes to a close, here are a few highlights from recent stories about Maine’s environment in the news. Timber company dropping hotly contested Moosehead development plan The timberland company Weyerhaeuser is asking to terminate a massive rezoning plan for the Moosehead Lake region that was the focus of years of Read More
NRCM Testimony in Support of LD 1561, An Act To Amend the Maine Land Use Planning Commission Laws and Enhance the Economic Vitality of Neighboring Communities
Good afternoon Senator Dill, Representative Hickman, and members of the Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry Committee. My name is Cathy Johnson. I live in Alna. I am here today on behalf of more than 20,000 members and supporters of the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) to speak in support of LD 1561, An Act to Read More
Does Northern Maine Need More Subdivisions?
By Jonathan Robbins, Special to the BDN Bangor Daily News op-ed Maine’s Land Use Planning Commission (LUPC) proposes to eliminate rules that limit new development applications within 1 mile of clusters of similar development anywhere in the Unorganized Territories. The new proposed system would allow new development applications of any type in designated zones along Read More
NRCM Testimony in Support of LD 568, An Act To Change the Composition of the Maine Land Use Planning Commission
Good afternoon Senator Dill, Representative Hickman, and members of the Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry Committee. My name is Cathy Johnson. I live in Alna. I am here today on behalf of the 20,000 members and supporters of the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) to speak in support of LD 568, An Act to the Read More
Re-organizing the Unorganized Territories
By Edgar Allen Beem The Forescaster column Environmental groups in Maine seem pretty united in opposition to a proposal to change the way the state regulates where development may occur in Maine’s unorganized territories, that 10 million-acre half of the state where fewer than 9,000 people live and the Land Use Planning Commission is the Read More
