He said having a single board without preferences or alliances is the way to go. By including the commissioners of those agencies with a board of citizens, he said, projects get as fair an assessment as possible. The six private and uncompensated citizens on the board are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the natural resource council for a four-year term. While membership on the board has changed over the years, those selected for it always have an interest in conservation. They include business people, scientists, real estate agents, appraisers and timber company owners, among others.
None is paid for their service to the state.
Richert said there is little chance that a conflict of interest would be a problem on the board because there are so many other board members, including commissioners, keeping an eye on every move. Milliken made no bones about the fact that he is president of the Baskahegan Co., a large timberland owner that sold land and an easement to the Land for Maine s Future program in 1994 before he was asked to sit on the board. Alice Rand, a longtime real estate salesperson from southern Maine, said she serves on the board because of her commitment to the mission of preserving land in the state. Especially in the relatively new field of development rights, easements on large, working timber lands such as the Nicatous project, there is uncertainty about value. DesMeules said the security is in the work of appraisers who set a value to whatever rights are being sold to the state.