An Act To Streamline the Paperwork Requirements of the State's Forest Practices Laws
Maine Legislature, Session 125, LD 1741
Committee: Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry
Sponsors: SHERMAN
Amends: 12 MRSA §8867-A, 12 MRSA §8878-A, 12 MRSA §8879, 12 MRSA §8883-B, 12 MRSA §8886

Legislative Document 
No. 1741
S.P. 598 
In Senate, January 4, 2012
An Act To Streamline the Paperwork Requirements of the State's 
Forest Practices Laws 
Submitted by the Department of Conservation pursuant to Joint Rule 204. 
Reference to the Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry suggested and 
ordered printed. 
JOSEPH G. CARLETON, JR. 
Secretary of the Senate 
Presented by Senator SHERMAN of Aroostook. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  12 MRSA §8867-A, first ¶, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 720, §2, is repealed 
and the following enacted in its place: 
The Commissioner of Conservation shall adopt rules in accordance with Title 5, 
chapter 375 to implement this chapter.  Rules adopted pursuant to this paragraph are 
routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A. 
Sec. 2.  12 MRSA §8878-A, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 720, §13, is repealed. 
Sec. 3.  12 MRSA §8879, as amended by PL 2005, c. 683, Pt. A, §15, is further 
amended to read: 
§8879.  Report on the state of the State's forests 
The director shall publish a biennial report on the state of the State's forests every 5 
years.  The director must submit a copy of the report to the joint standing committee of 
the Legislature having jurisdiction over forestry matters by January 1st of odd-numbered 
every 5 years beginning January 1, 1999 2016. 
1.  Content.  The report must describe the condition of the State's forests based on 
historical information and information collected and analyzed by the bureau for the 
biennium 5-year period.  The report must provide an assessment at the state level of 
progress in achieving the standards developed pursuant to section 8876-A, including 
progress of the outcome-based forestry experiment authorized under section 8003, 
subsection 3, paragraph Q.  The director shall also provide observations on differences in 
achieving standards by landowner class.  The report must summarize importing and 
exporting of forest products for foreign and interstate activities.  The director shall obtain 
public input during the preparation of the report through public hearings and other 
appropriate methods. 
1-A.  Report on changes in ownership of forest land.  Using information received 
under Title 36, section 581-G, the director shall monitor changes in ownership of parcels 
of forest land that are 1,000 acres or greater in area within the municipalities of the State 
and classified under the Maine Tree Growth Tax Law.  Using information received under 
Title 36, sections 581-F and 581-G, the director shall monitor the number of parcels 
classified under the Maine Tree Growth Tax Law and the distribution of parcels by size.  
The biennial report must include information on the number of parcels, classified by size 
categories, for the organized and unorganized territories of the State.  The information 
must be presented in a manner that facilitates comparison from year to year. 
In assessing changes in forest land ownership, the director shall also consider information 
reported pursuant to Title 36, sections 305 and 2728.  The director shall provide a 
summary of changes in ownership of forest land in the biennial report. 
2.  Recommendations.  The report must include recommendations for state and 
private actions designed to address the needs identified in the assessment. 
A.  State action recommendations must be defined in terms of necessary policies, 
programs, staff and budgetary requirements to achieve specific goals. 
B.  Recommendations for actions on privately held forest lands may be developed 
separately for large, industrial ownerships and small, nonindustrial ownerships.  
These recommendations must be defined in terms of actions needed to achieve 
specific goals. 
Sec. 4.  12 MRSA §8883-B, sub-§1, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 452, Pt. F, §44 and 
affected by Pt. X, §2, is amended to read: 
1.  Notification required prior to harvest.  Unless exempted under subsection 6 or 
by rule, prior to commencing harvesting operations the landowner or designated agent 
shall notify the bureau of: a commercial harvest operation. 
A.  A harvest operation of 50 cords or less; or  
B.   A commercial harvest operation of more than 50 cords. 
When the harvest is occurring within a municipality, the bureau shall send a copy of the 
notification form to the municipal clerk. 
Sec. 5.  12 MRSA §8883-B, sub-§2, ¶G, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 452, Pt. F, 
§44 and affected by Pt. X, §2, is repealed. 
Sec. 6.  12 MRSA §8883-B, sub-§2, ¶H, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 452, Pt. F, 
§44 and affected by Pt. X, §2, is amended to read: 
H.  Whether the land is being harvested to convert to another use within 2 years and, 
if so, what that use is to be.; 
If the land being converted to another use is taxed under the Maine Tree Growth Tax 
Law, notification of a change of land use under this subsection constitutes a 
withdrawal from taxation under the Maine Tree Growth Tax Law of that portion of 
land being converted to another use.  When a change in land use is indicated, the 
director shall notify the assessor for the jurisdiction in which the parcel is located that 
the land or the portion of land no longer meets the requirements of Title 36, chapter 
105, subchapter 2-A and must be withdrawn in accordance with Title 36, section 581; 
Sec. 7.  12 MRSA §8883-B, sub-§6, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 452, Pt. F, §44 and 
affected by Pt. X, §2, is amended to read: 
6.  Notification exemption.  The following activities are exempt from the 
notification requirement under this section: 
A.  Activities where when forest products are harvested for an owner's own use and 
are not sold or offered for sale or used in the owner's primary wood-using plants; 
B.  Precommercial silvicultural forestry activities; and 
C.  Harvesting performed by the landowner within a 12-month period when the total 
area harvested on land owned by that landowner does not exceed: 2 acres. 
(1)  Two acres if the residual basal area of acceptable growing stock over 4 1/2 
inches in diameter measured at 4 1/2 feet above the ground is less than 30 square 
feet basal area per acre; or 
(2)  Five acres if the residual basal area of acceptable growing stock over 4 1/2 
inches in diameter measured at 4 1/2 feet above the ground is more than 30 
square feet basal area per acre. 
The bureau may develop alternative notification methods for a harvest occurring on a 
parcel of land that is 2 acres or less in size and for harvesters operating on multiple 
parcels of land that are no more than 2 acres in size. 
Sec. 8.  12 MRSA §8883-B, sub-§7, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 452, Pt. F, §44 and 
affected by Pt. X, §2, is amended to read: 
7.  Penalties.  The following penalties apply to the failure to notify the bureau 
pursuant to this section.  Each day of failure to notify is a separate offense. 
A.  Failure to notify the bureau of a harvest operation of 50 cords or less constitutes a 
civil violation for which a fine of not more than $50 may be adjudged. 
B.  Providing inaccurate information on a notification form for a harvesting operation 
of 50 cords or less is a civil violation for which a fine of not more than $50 may be 
adjudged. 
C.  Failure to notify the bureau of a commercial harvest operation of more than 50 
cords constitutes a civil violation for which a fine not to exceed $1,000 for each 
occurrence may be adjudged and for which immediate cessation of the operation may 
be ordered by the court.  Continued operation after receiving an order to cease 
operation constitutes a civil violation for which a fine not to exceed $1,000 for each 
day the operation continues may be adjudged. 
D.  Providing inaccurate information on a notification form for a commercial 
harvesting operation of more than 50 cords is a civil violation for which a fine of not 
more than $1,000 for each occurrence may be adjudged. 
Sec. 9.  12 MRSA §8886, sub-§1, as enacted by PL 1989, c. 555, §12 and affected 
by c. 600, Pt. B, §11, is amended to read: 
1.  Harvesting practices.  Utilizing a sample of forest landowner reports and any 
other appropriate survey methods, the director shall tabulate an annual survey of the 
methods of harvesting and the harvest practices employed.  The information on 
harvesting shall must include, but is not be limited to, the silvicultural prescriptions 
employed, the estimated acreage of various harvest methods, including clear-cutting, and 
the extent of whole-tree harvesting of both solid and chipped wood, the number of 
clear-cuts over 75 acres in size, the total acres planted and the total acres 
precommercially thinned. 
Sec. 10.  Adoption of rules.  The Commissioner of Conservation shall adopt rules 
to effect the purposes of this Act no later than November 1, 2012. 
SUMMARY 
The purpose of this bill is to eliminate or simplify certain redundant paperwork 
requirements of the State's forest practices laws.  The bill repeals the requirement that the 
Director of the Bureau of Forestry within the Department of Conservation publish an 
annual report on clearcutting in the State.  The bill also changes the requirement that the 
director issue a state of the State's forests report every 2 years to a requirement that the 
director issue the report every 5 years. The bill expands the scope of rulemaking by the 
Commissioner of Conservation and requires the adoption of rules by November 1, 2012.