MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • January 7, 2024
In the 20 years or so I’ve been writing a gardening column, I’ve written about shoreland zoning many times. This year, I dealt with the laws on a personal level. Members of my family own a camp on the West Branch of the Pleasant River in Mason Township. Someone suggested we remove some trees to prevent disastrous blowdowns. Because I have contacts in Maine’s landscape community, the task fell to me. The Land Use Planning Commission emailed us approval to remove all six trees, and said that we didn’t need a building permit. We would not be allowed to remove the stumps, however, because the tree roots would prevent erosion. That was fine with us. The commission stipulated that in addition to letting seedlings sprout beneath the cut trees (in other words, no mowing) we must plant six native, non-invasive trees. If the state wants us to do even more, we happily will. Buying plants is always fun. ~ Tom Atwell