MAINE MONITOR • June 6, 2025
Late last year a team of ecologists came to a dire conclusion: without new conservation and management initiatives, half of the oldest forests in Maine’s unorganized territory could be gone in the next 35 years. A bipartisan bill aims to reverse that trend while also protecting Maine’s undeveloped lakes and ponds through prescriptive conservation measures. L.D. 1529 instructs state agencies to study and incorporate forest and lake protections in long-term management plans. It also instructs the Maine Bureau of Forestry to conduct research that follows the work done by Our Climate Future and sets a 2026 deadline for the DACF to compile statewide strategies to enhance conservation. The end result is a bill that the Maine Forest Products Council and environmental nonprofit Natural Resources Council of Maine both support.