Maine conservation groups fight development at Lily Bay

Two environmental groups opposed to Plum Creek Timber Co.'s massive development plan for the Moosehead Lake region called on regulators Thursday to block development on the Lily Bay peninsula north of Greenville.

The Land Use Regulation Commission should remove Lily Bay from the project and balance the change with a 33,500-acre reduction in the amount of land set aside for conservation on the opposite side of the lake, according Maine Audubon and the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

The two groups outlined their stance at a news conference in advance of LURC's anticipated decision by year's end on the largest subdivision ever proposed for Maine's North Woods.

Brownie Carson, the Natural Resources Council's executive director, said Lily Bay's natural and undeveloped character would be lost forever if the project goes forward in its present form. Seattle-based Plum Creek is seeking to develop 975 house lots and two resorts in the region, with roughly 20 percent of the units planned for Lily Bay.

"Lily Bay has got to be off the table," said Brownie Carson, the Natural Resources Council's executive director. "There's no way to achieve a balance that benefits the public if Plum Creek is allowed to build a resort, housing subdivisions, stores, roads, a golf course, and a marina in an area Maine people have said over and again they want protected from development."

As a trade-off for severing Lily Bay from the project, the conservation groups proposed eliminating the sale to the Nature Conservancy of conservation easements on a 33,500-acre parcel west of Moosehead.

Luke Muzzy, Plum Creek's project manager, brushed the suggestion aside, saying the project could not go forward without including Lily Bay, a forested area that is home to a state park and about 150 homes, most of them seasonal.

"Lily Bay is a crucial element of our plan. Without it, the plan is not viable," he said.

The announcement by conservation groups came as LURC approaches the final stage of a three-year review of a project hailed for its promise of economic development to a struggling part of the state and denounced as a threat to a region whose natural beauty was detailed 150 years ago in the writings of Henry David Thoreau.

LURC's staff recommended last month that the project be scaled back, but stopped short of calling for approval or rejection. The commission then conducted an item-by-item review of the staff's proposed changes in Plum Creek's concept plan to rezone about 20,000 acres and permanently protect more than 400,000 acres through easements and land transfers.

Plum Creek and its opponents have until July 11 to respond to the proposed changes. The responses will then be reviewed by the staff in advance of a commission decision that's likely to come by the end of the year.