But the focus of Malone's purchase was on shorefront property. This is good old- fashioned timberland with no shoreline that is far from any paved road and any development threat. A second question concerns the tree-growth tax program. Obviously our public officials don't feel too comfortable about its anti-development capabilities if we now have to go ahead and pay forest landowners additional money not to develop their land. Landowners will still be able to harvest timber unsustainably, spray with herbicides and generally do everything they've been doing for the past 100-plus years.
Easements preserve the status quo in the Maine woods.
Several highly accessible and threatened wildlands come to mind, such as the Rangeley lakes, the Down East lakes and the Appalachian Trail corridor. An example of an effective wildland easement is on Nicatous Lake, northeast of Bangor. Nicatous Lake provides many lakefront amenities and is in close proximity to a metropolitan area and paved roads. The development threats were real on Nicatous before the easement, and they continue to be real on many other scenic lakes and ponds that have far more development pressures than the West Branch area. To focus so much attention purchasing development rights in a region with relatively little development pressure is an inefficient usage of public funds.