Chronology of Events
Relevant to
Plum Creek Timber Company
Activities in Maine
as of February 29, 2008

• Summary of the current Plum Creek plan, submitted April 27, 2007 and modified several times since.
  
  Background Summary of Key Events in Plum Creek's development proposal.
  

• CURRENT STATUS as of February 28, 2008. The Land Use Regulation Commission has set a deadline of 5:00 PM, Friday, March 14, 2008 for all public comments to be submitted about Plum Creek’s Moosehead Lake area rezoning application. THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO TELL LURC YOUR OPINION ABOUT PLUM CREEK’S DEVELOPMENT PLAN. Get more information about submitting a letter to LURC.
  
• The record remains open for the public to submit written comments to LURC about Plum Creek's Moosehead Lake area rezoning application. The closing date for comments is yet to be announced by LURC.
  
  
• February 5, 2008. LURC notifies intervening parties that closing briefs are due March 7, 2008 with reply briefs to these submissions due March 21, 2008.
  
  
• January 25, 2008. The "technical hearings" with all the intervening groups are concluded.
  
  
• January 19, 2007. LURC holds the fourth public hearing in Greenville.
  
  
• January 15, 2008. "Technical hearings" in Augusta with the 30 intervenors resume. They are scheduled to continue until January 25.
  
  
• December 16, 2007. LURC reschedules the fourth public hearing in Greenville to January 19, 2008 duet o a snowstorm.
  
  
• December 15, 2007. LURC holds the third public hearing, in Portland.
  
  
• December 14, 2007. LURC concludes ten days of "technical hearings" with the 30 interveneing organizations. Two more weeks of technical hearings will be held in January 2008.
  
  
• December 12, 2007. LURC holds its eighth day of "technical hearings" with the 30 intervening organizations. Two more days of these hearings will be held this week followed by two more public hearings, Saturday, December 15 in Portland and Sunday, December 16 in Greenville. This will be the end of the public hearings. One or two more weeks of technical hearings will be held in January 2008.
  
  
• December 2, 2007. LURC holds the second public hearing in Augusta.
  
  
• December 3, 2007. LURC holds the first public hearing in Greenville.
  
  
• November 7, 2007. LURC votes to hold public hearings on December 1 and December 16, 2007 in Greenville, December 2, 2007 in Augusta and December 15, 2007 in Portland. Get more information about the hearings.
  
  
• October 10, 2007. LURC votes to delay public hearings on Plum Creek's application to rezone 400,000 acres around Moosehead Lake. Previouly scheduled for early November 2007, LURC will decide on a new public hearing schedule at its November 7, 2007 meeting. The decision to delay the hearings is due to Plum Creek's intent to submit more changes to its application later in October.
  

• October 10, 2007.. LURC votes to dismiss a motion by RESTORE: The North Woods and the Forest Ecology Network to dismiss Plum Creek's concept plan rezoning proposal. The motion was submitted because Plum Creek's rezoning petition calls for a binding contract where the landowner would have veto power over many land use and zoning changes on hundreds of thousands of acres during the next 30 years. That would amount to a delegation of LURC's authority as a public agency to a private landowner. Maine law gives LURC the responsibility to zone but does not give the agency the power to delegate zoning authority to landowners. This LURC decision can be appealed in court if LURC approves Plum Creek's proposed concept plan.

• September 5, 2007. The Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) sets a tentative public hearing schedule for November 3 through November 18, 2007. [This schedule is later abandoned at LURC's October 10, 2007 meeting, because Plum Creek submits additional changes to its application.]

• August 31, 2007. RESTORE: The North Woods , in conjunction with the Forest Ecology Network (FE N), submit their "pre-filed" testimony for the hearings on Plum Creek's development plan for the Moosehead region. The RESTORE-FEN submission includes testimony from 16 experts. All intervenors and Plum Creek submit testimony. Plum Creek submits 35 CD's of testimony. More testimony is due on Setpember 14 and rebuttal of all testimony is due September 28, 2007. Plum Creek and all 28 intervenors or "parties" are required to submit all their testimony in writing, in advance.
  
  
• July 27, 2007.  RESTORE: The North Woods and Forest Ecology Network (FEN) file a Motion to Dismiss Plum Creek's concept plan for rezoning in the Moosehead region. Plum Creek's proposal calls for a contract between LURC and the landowner that requires Plum Creek to agree to any zoning change during the next 30 years.  Lawyers for RESTORE and FEN file the motion to dismiss on the basis that LURC does not have authority from the legislature to undertake contract zoning.
  -Motion to dismiss
  -Statement by Jym St. Pierre.
  -Associated Press article.

• CURRENT STATUS - July 27, 2007. RESTORE and other intervenors file a detailed summary of the issues (this is a pdf) they intend to address at the hearing . RESTORE recommends public hearings be held in Greenville, Bangor, Augusta and Portland and that the deadline for submission of intervenor testimony (currently August 31, 2007) and the dates of the public hearings (currently scheduled for Nov 2007) be moved back. 
  

• April 27, 2007. The Land Use Regulation Commission announces a tentative public comment schedule on Plum Creek's rezoning application, that includes October 29, 2007 as the "first conceivable start date for public hearings". See the full tentative schedule for the review process and how to view the application.
  
• April 27. 2007. RESTORE releases a statement about Plum Creek's revised development plan.
  
• April 27, 2007. Plum Creek submits a new rezoning and development plan to the Land Use Regulation Commission for 408,000 acres of its ownership around Moosehead Lake. The new plan:
  
  • continues to include 975 subdivision lots
  • doubles the amount of land zoned for development to 22,000 acres, which will actually allow for thousands of subdivision lots
  • doubles the amount of land zoned for development to 22,000 acres, which will actually allow for thousands of subdivision lots
  • still proposes develpment of two major resorts, and incresases the size of both along with satellite resort zones.
  • increases the number of "resort accommodations" from 750 to 1050
  • adds the development of energy facilities as an allowable use in the easement areas on the west side of Moosehead Lake
  • rezones 33 miles of shoreline for development
  • reduces the number of subdivision lots on shorelines
  • increases the acres of working forest easement from 72,000 acres to 90,000 acres.
    
    
• March 30, 2007. Plum Creek informs the Land Use Regulation Commission that it plans to submit a revised rezoning application the last week in April 2007 and will not meet the intended date of April 2. View the best available information on Plum Creek's expected revisions to its rezoning and development proposal.
  
  
• January 17, 2007
  Plum Creek informs the Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) that it is "contemplating" more revisions to its application for rezoning in the Moosehead Lake region. Plum Creek requests that LURC reschedule the public hearing process that LURC adopted just 12 days ago. LURC puts a hold on the hearing process until further notice. See LURC's notice about suspending the hearing schedule.
  
  
• January 5, 2007
  The Maine Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) adopts a timetable that includes public hearings tentatively scheduled for May 19, 2007 in Greenville and June 2, 2007 in Bangor or Augusta. RESTORE plans to apply to be an intervenor in the application. The schedule requires parties to apply for intervenor status by February 14, 2007.
  
  Members of the public will be able to comment at the public hearings in May and June. Written comments can be submitted anytime including for a short period after the hearings.
  View the full pre-hearing and hearing schedule. The schedule for April through June is tentative. It could change if earlier parts of the schedule result in delays.
  
  
  
• November 28, 2006 - The Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) announces that it has found Plum Creek's rezoning application for the Moosehead Lake Region "acceptable for processing."
  
  “Acceptable for processing” means that the Commission’s staff has sufficient information to understand the proposal and to begin its formal application review. LURC staff anticipates that it may request further information from Plum Creek during the pre-hearing process.
  
  The LURC staff anticipates that public hearings will be scheduled for Spring-Summer 2007 (possibly late May to early June).
  
  The Commission will meet on January 3, 2007 and will likely set a schedule for the Plum Creek application at that meeting. In addition to the public hearings, there will be pre-hearing actions to schedule (including deadlines for intervention by third parties - RESTORE will intervene, submission of pre-filed testimony, and a pre-hearing conference.)
  
  
• November 15, 2006. It is reported that Plum Creek violates forestry laws and cuts deer wintering areas. The Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) releases the findings of information they got from the State through Freedom Of Access Act (FOAA) requests. NRCM reports that Plum Creek has repeatedly violated Maine's Forest Practices Act and this year was charged the largest fine ever for forestry violations. In addition, Plum Creek constructed a power line without getting the required permits, violated water protection laws, and repeatedly destroyed crucial deer wintering areas against the objections of State biologists.
  
  
• November 8, 2006. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) issues a final rule on designating critical wildlife habitat for the lynx, a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. In the rule that USFWS proposed, by court order, they identified most of the northern third of the state of Maine as critical habitat for lynx. In their final rule, however, they exempted all landowners in Maine from having their lands designated as critical habitat. The designation would likely have been very problematic for Plum Creek's development and it lobbied hard in Washington, D.C. to be exempted. It is pretty clear that the USFWS has not followed the law in their final ruling. It seems evident the USF&WS will be sued, and they will lose. In the mean time, the critical habitat designation will not be in place while Plum Creek seeks its permits. You can get more information about the lynx and the critical habitat rule at the USFWS lynx web site.
  
  
• October 28 & 29, 2006. The Bangor Daily News and the Maine Sunday Telegram publish editorials that call for the private $35 million agreement between Plum Creek and three conservation groups to be clearly separated from Plum Creek's proposal to develop 975 house lots and two large resorts.The editorials emphasize that the Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) should not allow the private land deal to be confused with the rezoning application. They also say that Plum Creek is proposing most of the prime shoreline for development and too little is being offered for conservation.
  
  
  
• October 24, 2006
  Plum Creek reaches agreement with The Nature Conservancy, Forest Society of Maine and Appalachian Mountain Club to sell working forest easements on 270,000 acres of backland for $10 million and to sell the fee ownership of 73,520 acres in the areas of the Roach Ponds and Moose River near Jackman for $25 million. The three groups will be given five years to raise the money if Plum Creek's concept plan is approved by LURC. If this agreement is carried out, the conservation groups plan to seek substantial amounts of public money to help fund he purchases. However, the land and easements in this sale will not be reviewed by LURC because they are not part of the permanent conservation needed to offset the development Plum Creek is proposing.
  
  
• July 31 and August 1, 2006
  Plum Creek submits some of the items, requested by the Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) in a June 29, 2006 letter, that are needed to make their Moosehead Lake region rezoning application acceptable as complete. They have promised most of the remainder of requested information by the middle of August. They apparently still refuse to release information about the so-called Conservation Framework to LURC.
  
  
• July 19, 2006. Plum Creek refuses to provide LURC with copies of option agreements associated with the so-called Conservation Framework, claiming that it is proprietary information. This refusal provides additional proof that the Conservation Framework is not legitimately part of the rezoning application. It also calls into question the corporation's intentions to carry through with its conservation promises and the extent of any potential public benefit of Plum Creek's plan.
  
  
• June 29, 2006
  Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) mails a letter to Plum Creek notifying them of additional information they need to submit to make their Moosehead Lake region rezoning application acceptable as being complete. View the letter.
  
  
• June 26, 2006. LURC sends a letter to Plum Creek raising questions about the validity of including information about Plum Creek's "Conservation Framework" in the rezoning application. The conservation framework states that Plum Creek would be willing to sell some land and a large conservation easement to non-profit conservation groups if LURC will approve its rezoning application. LURC's letter raises the following points: a) The conservation framework is a non-regulatory agreement between private parties that may or may not be implemented. b) It depends on pnrivate parties' abilities to raise funds for acquisition. c)LURC would not be able to require that Plum Creek sell nor the private entities buy. d) Yet the framework states that the opportunity will only be available if LURC approves the rezoning application. See LURC's letter about the conservation framework.
  
  
• May 25, 2006:
  The SAVE MOOSEHEAD Coalition holds a news conference to publicize the massive development still in Plum Creek's proposal and to point out the deceptiveness of Plum Creek's media advertising blitz that touts their "conservation framework" even though the vast majority of the conservation is not part of their development plan. The conservation is only a promise to sell land and easements if Plum Creek is granted its rezoning request. There are no terms in the rezoning plan that will require the major part of the conservation to happen.
  
  
• April 27, 2006:
  After seven months of public relations work to convince Maine people they "listened" to them and were revising their plan to improve it, Plum Creek finally re-submits its application to the Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) to rezone its land in the Moosehead Lake area to allow for development. The plan is approximately 1,000 pages and LURC and RESTORE and other groups are reviewing it to learn what development is actually being proposed and other details of their development plan.
  
  We do know that the two primary pieces of their development remain. Nine hundred and seventy -five (975) houselots and two major resorts are still being proposed around Moosehead Lake. Although it is still incomplete, we have a partial summary of the Plum Creek proposal. We will update it as we learn more.
  
  
• March 30, 2006: Plum Creek announces the possibility of permanent conservation if it gets rezoning for development from the Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC). The conservation would occur with the participation of The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Forest Society of Maine (FSM) and Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC). Plum Creek would sell 27,000 acres to TNC east of Moosehead Lake and 45,200 acres southwest of Jackman. Two hundred seventy-thousand acres (270,000) would be offered for sale "at attractive terms" for working forest conservation easements. Another 60,000 acres would be offered as working forest easements to offset proposed development. FSM would hold the easement. All of the proposed conservation appears to be dependent upon Plum Creek getting development approval from LURC. Plum Creek says it will submit its revised concept proposal to LURC during the week of April 10, 2006. For information about sending comments, see TAKE ACTION.
  
  
• February 3, 2006: Environment Maine's Winter Report calls for special land use plans for sensitive areas within the unorganized territories and the designation of the top 10 pristine places in Maine, so that the future of the North Woods is not decided by one proposal after another.
  
  
• January 23, 2006: Greenville officials critique Plum Creek's plan, identifying both strengths and possible improvements.
  
  
• January 1, 2006: Plum Creek publishes an open letter in Maine newspapers that says the concerns of a broad spectrum of Maine citizens will be addressed in revisions to the company's original Moosehead region proposal.
  
  
• December 23, 2005: A Plum Creek representative shares plan revision ideas with the Greenville Planning Board. The formal revision will be completed by February or March of 2006.
  
  
• December 2, 2005: Coalition of four groups, including RESTORE, forms to launch a 'Save Moosehead' campaign.
  
  
• November 28, 2005: Moosehead Region Futures Committee announces funding allowing the group to open a local office in Greenville and to continue its outreach activities.
  
  
• November 16, 2005: Natural Resources Council of Maine releases web-based cartoon called Plum Creek's "Big Moosetake."
  
  
• November 5, 2005: Strong public opposition to Plum Creek's development plan is shown in a statewide public opinion survey conducted by Critical Insights. The results show that Mainers oppose the Plum Creek plan 2 to 1 (41% to 20%). Every grouping - party affiliation, income level, northern or southern Maine - has more people who think it is a bad idea than think it is a good idea. The same poll shows solid support for creating a Maine Woods National Park (43% favor, 30% oppose). The poll is reported in the Kennebec Journal article Mainers aren't sold on plans for Moosehead.
  
  
• October 31, 2005: LURC publishes a summary of the issues raised during the scoping process of August, September and October. View the 19 page Summary of Issues in a pdf file.
  
  
• September 30, 2005: During a presentation at the University of Maine in Orono, Plum Creek representatives say they are in the process of revising their proposal and hope to have revisions submitted to LURC by the end of the year. RESTORE anticipated from the start that Plum Creek would make revisions to its proposal as part of the psychological strategy for the process. By presenting an overreaching proposal to begin with, any changes will cause people to think "it could have been worse", and make them more receptive to a somewhat smaller but still sprawling development proposal.
  
  
• September 4, 2005: The Maine Sunday Telegram publishes a feature article about whether or not LURC has the capacity to adequately review the massive Plum Creek development proposal. RESTORE is used extensively as a source.
  

• August 24, 2005: The fourth and last LURC scoping session is held in Hallowell. Approximately 150 people attend. Fifty-five people speak. Thirty-five are deeply concerned/opposed to the project. Twelve speak favorably of it and eight seem fairly neutral. Jym St. Pierre presents for RESTORE.
  
  
• August 22, 2005: The third LURC scoping session is held near Jackman.
  
  
• August 18, 2005: The second LURC scoping session is held in Rockwood. Approximately 150 people attend. Thirty-two give presentations, the vast majority of which are very critical of the Plum Creek development plan. Ken Spalding of RESTORE attends the session.
  
  
• August 16, 2005: The first LURC scoping session is held in Greenville. Approximately 300 people attend, most from the Greenville area and including Jym St. Pierre of RESTORE. A majority of those who spoke raise concerns about the size and the placement of the development and creation of wildlands sprawl.
  
  
• August 9, 2005: Plum Creek releases an economic analysis of their development plan, written by economist Charles Colgan. Not surprisingly, the paper concludes that the development will be economically beneficial. The paper, however, is admittedly based on very little information. A significant part of the benefits are based on the pure speculation that a saw mill would be built and a significant part is based on temporary construction jobs. The paper makes little attempt to look at the economic and other costs of the development and looks at no alternatives. A Bangor Daily News article about the assessment appears in the paper on August 10, 2005.
  
  
• August 2, 2005: The Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) schedules four "scoping sessions" for the public to "present their views on issues the LURC should consider in its review of …" the Plum Creek development proposal. Three are in the Moosehead Lake area. One is in Hallowell.
  
  
• July 29, 2005: LURC sends a letter to Plum Creek noting preliminary identification of application deficiencies and requests additional information and changes to the application. The tentative deadlines for submission of the information are in September and early October, 2005.
  
  
• July 26, 2005: A coalition of state, regional and national conservation organizations (including Forest Ecology Network, RESTORE: The North Woods, American Lands Alliance, Friends of the Earth) hold a news conference to announce opposition to Plum Creek's Moosehead proposal because it represents wilderness sprawl. Read RESTORE's statement at the news conference.
  
  
• July 22, 2005: LURC schedules four scoping sessions in August to "receive information from the public for purposes of identifying issues that LURC should consider" as it reviews the Plum Creek proposal. That will represent a step backward if Plum Creek's massive development proposal becomes the framework for LURC planning in the Moosehead region.
  
  
• June 23, 2005: The Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) publicly announces its opposition to the Plum Creek development proposal.
  
  
• June 18, 2005: The board of directors of RESTORE: The North Woods adopt a resolution opposing Plum Creek's Moosehead development plan.
  
  
• April 19, 2005: Plum Creek re-submits its application with minor changes.
  
  
• May 4, 2005: RESTORE and others testify in support of the petition for a moratorium on major developments in the Moosehead region. However, LURC denies the moratorium request. LURC also decides to include a "visioning" process for the Moosehead region as part of the review of Plum Creek's proposal. As a result, rather than conduct planning to help guide development, LURC will rely on large development proposals, such as Plum Creek’s, to be the framework for planning in the Moosehead region.
  
  
• April 19, 2005: Plum Creek resubmits application to LURC
  
  
• April 5, 2005: Plum Creek submits an application to LURC for the largest residential development ever proposed in Maine. The development is all to occur in the unorganized territories in the Moosehead Lake region. Although the proposal covers 426,000 acres, it is still only 45% of Plum Creek's ownership in Maine
  
  
• March 18, 2005: More than a dozen prominent Maine citizens submit a request to the Land Use Regulation Commission seeking a six-month moratorium on major developments within 41 unorganized townships in the Moosehead region. The moratorium would allow LURC to prepare an updated plan for the region, as called for by its own comprehensive plan, without the pressures of dealing with major development of the region at the same time.
  
  
• February 24, 2005, RESTORE hosts a strategy discussion about Plum Creek’s Moosehead region proposal.
  
  
• December 14, 2004: Plum Creek Timber announces plans for the largest residential development in Maine Woods history, in the Moosehead Lake region. The company simultaneously announces the acquisition of another 48,500 acres of forest land in Maine. The price is later revealed to be $33 million. Plum Creek, now the second-largest private landowner in the United States, has more than $300 million in cash on hand and is expected to continue to buy forest land.
  
  
• June 2004: Robert McLoed, CEO of Newland Communities, one of the biggest land development companies in the U.S., joins the Plum Creek board of directors.
  
  
• March 2004: Plum Creek earns $155 million on revenues of $497 million in the first quarter of 2004. The company’s ownership exceeds 8 million acres of timberland spread across 21 states. Plum Creek says 1.4 million acres is "non-strategic" real estate to be sold over time. Another 1.35 million acres are deemed "higher value" land that can generate revenue from development and mineral rights. Plum Creek CEO Rick Holley says, "We're going to free up a lot of capital when we sell these assets. Continue to look for acquisitions that will help the value of the company."
  
  
• January 16, 2004: RESTORE: The North Woods files a Freedom of Access (Information) request with the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission for documents pertaining to a possible major new land project by Plum Creek in the Moosehead region.
  
  
• December 6, 2003: Plum Creek sells development rights on 142,000 acres in Montana for $34 million (including $16 million from the federal Forest Legacy Program, $9 million from the federal Habitat Conservation Plan Land Acquisition grant program, and $6 million from the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks).
  
  
• 2002: Real estate activities generate about $23 million in revenue for Plum Creek during the first quarter of 2002, when the company earns $56 million on revenues of $275 million. Plum Creek estimates that about 900,000 acres scattered throughout its holdings across the country are suitable for development.
  
  
• August 2002: LURC grants after-the-fact approval to an amendment to conservation covenants in Plum Creek’s First Roach Pond subdivision. The company is spanked for undertaking the work before an appeal of the LURC staff-approved amendment could be heard by the LURC commission. Plum Creek’s attorney promises that the situation "will never come up again."
  
  
• May 2002: Plum Creek pays a $4,000 penalty for illegally installing a utility line to its First Roach Pond subdivision without a permit.
  
  
• January 9, 2002: The Maine Land Use Regulation Commission approves the proposal by Plum Creek to create an 89-lot residential subdivision around First Roach Pond. The lots sell almost immediately for $65,000 to $125,000 each. Mike Yeager, Plum Creek’s Northeast director of land management, tells the Bangor Daily News, "We don’t have any other plans for something like this. There is not another concept plan on our drawing board." According to an article by reporter Phyllis Austin, "Yeager said Plum Creek intends to keep a promise not to subdivide land on wild ponds in its ownership."
  
  
• December 1, 2001: Tom Lindquist, a Texas-based developer, is hired to fill Plum Creek’s newly created post of executive vice president for real estate and strategic business development. Plum Creek CEO Rick Holley says the change marks a significant turn for the company. Wall Street expects the company's $25 million-a-year real estate business to begin generating about $100 million per year. "Eventually, real estate and energy activities could account for as much as 25 percent of Plum Creek's earnings," Lindquist says.
  
  
• August 2001: Plum Creek applies to the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission to create an 89-lot residential subdivision around First Roach Pond east of Moosehead Lake. As part of the plan, 160 acres are to be protected by deed restrictions, 494 acres by conservation covenants, and 525 acres by conservation easements. RESTORE: The North Woods urges LURC to reject the plan as failing to meet the legal test of balancing development and conservation.
  
  
• 2001: Plum Creek inadvertently cuts down a bald eagle nest tree on Spencer Pond in western Maine. In a 1998 news release, Plum Creek stated, "We already protect bald eagles on our lands in the Northwest, and we are confident in our ability to provide the species with the habitat it needs to thrive in Maine." No enforcement action is taken for the violation.
  
  
• 2001: Violations of a Forest Legacy conservation easement caused by Plum Creek Timber Company's forestry operations are discovered near Pierce Pond. This follows previous problems by Plum Creek in the same watershed, including highly visible clear cuts on a steep hillside. No meaningful enforcement action is taken.
  
  
• July 18, 2000: Plum Creek signs an agreement to acquire 4.7 million acres by buying The Timber Company from George-Pacific Corp. for $3.8 billion. Plum Creek becomes the second-largest private property owner in the U.S. (after International Paper Company) with 7.8 million acres in 19 states.
  
  
• July 2000: Plum Creek sells 7,500 acres around Spencer Lake in western Maine as a private "kingdom property" to media billionaire John Malone for $10.5 million ($1,400/acre).
  
  
• 1999: Plum Creek converts to a real estate investment trust (REIT), a structure that is attractive to many institutional investors.
  
  
• June 1999: Plum Creek seeks permission to legally "take" (i.e., kill or harm) imperiled Canada lynx and several salmon species under the national Endangered Species Act on thousands of acres of the company's Washington State holdings.
  
  
• May 13, 1999: According to an article in the Moosehead Messenger newspaper (Greenville, Maine), Plum Creek says it plans to continue clear cutting on 30% of its logging operations in Maine.
  
  
• March 25, 1999: Plum Creek agrees to sell 3,000 acres near the Appalachian Trail for $1.3 million ($433/acre).
  
  
• March 25, 1999: Plum Creek agrees to sell 7,300 acres to State of Maine for conservation along Moosehead Lake, Kennebec River and Flagstaff Lake for $5.26 million ($720/acre). As part of the deal, Plum Creek acquires another 15,000 acres in Bowtown township near the confluence of the Dead and the Kennebec Rivers.
  
  
• December 1998: Plum Creek’s third quarter report says that with its new Maine lands Plum Creek has become the fifth-largest timberland owner in the U.S., with more than 3.3 million acres. "We expect [the Maine lands] to add to our cash flow immediately upon closing." Jim Lehner, Plum Creek’s general manager in the Northeast, says in a letter to the Bangor Daily News that "We practice Environmental Forestry...on 100% of our ownership, and will apply our principles on our forest lands in Maine."
  
  
• October 1998: Plum Creek’s web site indicates that the company has recently divided 900 acres around Little Bitterroot Lake in Montana into kingdom properties, which it is marketing for millions of dollars. The web site says, "Plum Creek has identified other lake, river, and mountain properties throughout its ownership which have extraordinary recreation, conservation and development values that will become available in the future."
  
  
• October 11, 1998: In the Maine Sunday Telegram, Bill Brown, Plum Creek's vice president of business development, reiterates that Plum Creek is not really in the development business.
  
  
• October 7, 1998: Rick Holley, Plum Creek president and CEO, reportedly tells the Portland Press Herald that the company has no plans to sell land for vacation homes, camps or other types of development.
  
  
• October 6, 1998: Plum Creek Timber Company announces its purchase of 905,000 acres of forest land in Maine for $180 million ($200/acre) from South African Pulp and Paper Industries (Sappi). Rick Holley, president and chief executive officer of Plum Creek, says that "Plum Creek employs innovative and environmentally responsible management practices throughout our timberland ownership. We will manage these lands in an environmentally progressive manner." Jym St. Pierre, Maine director of RESTORE: The North Woods is quoted in the news media cautioning that "It's going to be shock therapy for the state of Maine."
  
  
• 1990s: Plum Creek begins an aggressive campaign to acquire forest land. By 1998, the company has accumulated 2.4 million acres in the Pacific Northwest, Louisiana and Arkansas, making it the sixth-largest private timberland owner in the United States. The company is in the process of carving up 150,000 acres of mostly cut over forest land in Montana for residential development and is threatening to log thousands of acres of ancient forest in Washington state unless the public exchanges more of its land with Plum Creek.
  
  
• June 1994: RESTORE: The North Woods proposes a new, 3.2 million-acre Maine Woods National Park and Preserve to permanently protect the public values of the Mooshead-Katahdin region in Maine.
  
  
• 1989: Plum Creek Timber Company, L.P. of Seattle, WA, is spun off from Burlington Northern. Plum Creek starts as a master limited partnership with 1.5 million acres of timberland.
  
  
• 1980s: Plum Creek Timber Company, a subsidiary of Burlington Northern, successor to the Northern Pacific Railroad, gains a national reputation for clear cutting its sections of the checkerboard ownership in the West. Former U.S. Representative Rod Chandler calls the company "the Darth Vadar of the state of Washington" for its heavy-handed forestry practices.
  
  
• 1864: 40 million acres between Lake Superior and Puget Sound are given by the U.S. Congress to the Northern Pacific Railroad as an incentive to run track across the continent. The land is granted in alternating square-mile sections, intermingled with public land, in a hundred-mile wide corridor along the 2,000-mile railroad right-of-way. Northern Pacific Railroad is supposed to sell the land to homesteaders to finance the transcontinental railroad and telegraph system. Instead, it holds most of the land until the late 1980s, when it spins off several companies to exploit the gold, coal, oil and gas, real estate, and timber resources.

RESTORE's Statement at July 26, 2005
News Conference

STATEMENT OF JYM ST. PIERRE
DIRECTOR, RESTORE: THE NORTH WOODS
CONCERNING PLUM CREEK TIMBER COMPANY’S
MOOSEHEAD LAKE REGION PLAN
JULY 26, 2005

Bric-a-brac is defined as "small objects of no great value." Maine seems to be getting hit with both bricks and bracs lately with no great value to our state. The Base Realignment and Closure commission, or BRAC, has proposed to cut thousands of military jobs, especially along the Maine coast. Meanwhile, in the Maine Woods we are getting whacked with the biggest real estate scam in our state’s history. The Plum Creek plan for the Moosehead region is more than a wake up call, it is a brick between the eyes.

There has been an outpouring of public concern in recent years in Maine about our forests. Misplaced development, unsustainable forest practices, and unstable ownerships threaten the ecological integrity, traditional recreational access, economic viability, and scenic beauty of Maine's North Woods wilderness.

Now Plum Creek, a corporation that has been transforming from a forestry company into a real estate behemoth right before our eyes, has put one of our most cherished areas—the Moosehead region—into jeopardy. Plum Creek's plan proposes the largest residential-commercial real estate development in Maine history. It includes:

o 975 house lots on 15 different lakes and ponds and the Moose River
o 3,000-acre destination resort with an undetermined number of additional
housing units and commercial developments
o resort lodge on 500 acres
o 3 recreational vehicle campgrounds with associated commercial
developments
o 1,000 acres of commercial/industrial development
o 4 large sporting camps
o 116 rental cabins scattered throughout the region

What is wrong with Plum Creek’s plan? Plenty. It is the wrong kind of development in the wrong place at the wrong time.

In the heart of the Maine Woods we need bigger and better conservation actions to hold habitats together, not wildlands sprawl that fragments the homes of our native wildlife with invasive houses, roads and powerlines.

We need sustainable development phased into gateway communities to support local jobs for the long term, not boom-bust business in the outback that hurts our growing eco-tourism businesses.

We need to nurture an economics that brings solid prosperity, not a skewed economics where a few people make a bundle and the local towns get only solid waste from suburbanites heading home.

We need the Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) to act as though it can see the big picture, not act as though it is supposed to say yes to every cockeyed, get-rich-quick scheme.

I know a little about these things. I have training in wildlife ecology and biodiversity, but you do not need to be an expert to understand that sprawling development harms habitats. I have an advanced degree in resource economics, but you do not need to be an economist to understand that selling off your heirlooms generates at best short-term gain. I have eleven years of work at LURC on my resume, but you do not need to be a land use guru to understand that sometimes the right answer to bad development ideas is NO. Period.

Since Plum Creek Timber Company moved into Maine in 1998, they repeatedly reassured us they had no plans to carve our shorelands into subdivision lots, our backlands into golf courses, and our timberlands into RV parking areas. The statements by Plum Creek officials during the past seven years represent a chronology of deception and broken promises.

So what is to be done? First, we will say NO to Plum Creek’s wildlands sprawl at every opportunity in front of LURC, starting with the scoping sessions just announced for next month.

Second, we will work to get the word out to every corner of Maine so that the public and the policy makers have a full and accurate understanding that the special public trust represented by our Maine Woods wilderness heritage is on the line.

Third, we will continue to advocate for permanent protection of the public values in the Moosehead region. Despite gains in recent years, Maine is still scraping the bottom of the list of states with the lowest proportion of publicly protected land. We cannot rely on private groups to do the job our public agencies should be doing. Even at their best their scale will always be too small. Nor does the State alone have the financial or technical ability to protect and restore big wilderness. We have seen that demonstrated with the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. We remain vulnerable and now the granddaddy of all assaults to our wildlands has arrived.

It is time to seriously evaluate our options, including the proposed Maine Woods National Park and Preserve, and to act on a grand scale befitting the grandeur of our wildlands. The Moosehead region is unquestionably of national significance. The threats it faces are of national concern. It will take national action to preserve the pubic interest at risk. But it must start here. That is why we are here today announcing the start of a Save Moosehead campaign.

The people of Maine need to understand that the ecological and economic slow motion wreck that is happening in the woods is every bit as alarming and far-reaching as the changes that the likely base closings portend. Just as Maine has stood up to the BRAC, we have to stand up to the brick, or I should say, the Crik, that is, Plum Crik.