An Act To Enhance the Ecological Reserve System
Maine Legislature, Session 130, LD 0736
Committee Amendment CA_A_H771 (House)
Amends: 12 MRSA §1805

COMJvtITTEE AMENDivIENT ,..(/., to H.P. 541, L.D. 736, "An Act To Enhance the 
Ecological Reserve System" 
Amend the bill by striking out everything after the enacting clause and inserting the 
following: 
'Sec. 1. 12 MRSA §1805, as enacted by PL 1999, c, 592, §3 and amended by PL 
2011, c. 657, Pt. W, §7 and PL 2013, c. 405, Pt. A, §24, is further amended to read: 
§1805. Designation of ecological reserve 
The director may designate ecological reserves on parcels of land under the jurisdiction 
of the bureau that ,,rere included in the inventory of potential ecological reserves published 
in the July 1998 report of the Maine Forest Biodiversity Project, "An Ecological Reserves 
£ystem Inventory: Potential Ecological Reserves on Maine's Tudsting Public and Priva-te 
Conserva-tion Lands."~ The director may designate additional ecological reserves or 
remove the designation of a parcel of land as an ecological reserve only in conjunction with 
the adoption of a management plan for a particular parcel of land.,. and the process for 
adoption of that management plan must provide for public review and comment on the 
plan. When a proposed management plan includes designation of an ecological reserve, 
the director shall notify the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction 
over matters pertaining to public lands matters of the proposal. 
When a proposed 
management plan includes the removal of a parcel of land of 10 acres or more as an 
ecological reserve, the director shall submit a report to the joint standing committee of the 
Legislature having jurisdiction over public lands matters prior to the bureau's updating the 
accompanying management plan for the parcel of land. 
The report must include a 
description of the parcel of land, the reasons for the removal of the designation as an 
ecological reserve, the intended uses of the parcel of land and the benefits to the public as 
a result of the removal of the designation as an ecological reserve. The joint standing 
committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over public lands matters may report out 
a bill relating to the subject matter of the report. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT•/{" to H.P. 541, L.D. 736 
1. Allowed uses. Allovred uses The director may within an ecological reserve HHlSt 
be allow uses that are compatible with the purpose of the ecological reserve and may do 
not cause significant impact on natural community composition or ecosystem processes. 
Al101tved uses Uses that the director may allow include nonmanipulative scientific research, 
public education and nonmotorized recreation activities such as hiking, cross-country 
skiing, primitive camping, gathering of materials for cultural and traditional use by a 
member of a federally recognized Wabanaki Indian nation, tribe or band in this State, 
hunting, fishing and trapping. For the purposes of this subsection, "primitive camping" 
means camping in a location without facilities or where facilities are limited to a privy, fire 
ring, tent pad, 3-sided shelter and picnic table. The removal of trees and construction of 
facilities associated with these allowed uses are allowed. The director may allow other 
uses when their impact remains low and does not compromise the purpose of the ecological 
reserve. Recreational use of surface waters is under the jurisdiction of the Department of 
Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. 
2. Trails and roads for motorized vehicle use. 
The director shall allow the 
continuing use of an existing snowmobile trail, an all-terrain vehicle trail or a road if the 
director determines the trail or road is well designed and built and situated in a safe location 
and its use has minimal adverse impact on the ecological value of an ecological reserve and 
it cannot be reasonably relocated outside the ecological reserve. 
A new snowmobile or all-terrain vehicle trail or a new road is allowed only if the director 
detennines all of the following criteria are met: 
A. No safe, cost-effective alternative exists; 
B. The impact on protected natural resource values is minimal; and 
C. The trail or road will provide a crucial link in a significant trail or road system. 
3. Incompatible uses. Uses that are incompatible with the purpose of an ecological 
reserve are not allowed. Incompatible uses include timber harvesting, salvage harvesting, 
commercial mining and commercial sand and gravel excavation. For the purposes of this 
subsection, "salvage harvesting" means the removal of dead or damaged trees to recover 
economic value that would otherwise be lost. 
4. Resource protection measures. The director shall take action to control a wildfire 
occurring on an ecological reserve or spreading to bureau lands. 
The director may 
authorize a prescribed burn in an ecological reserve if necessary to replicate natural 
processes that maintain specific natural communities or rare species populations. The 
director may implement predetermined wildfire tactics to protect the integrity of the 
landscape and shall use minimal impact suppression tactics to the extent possible. 
The director may use pesticides, including herbicides, and sanitation harvests to control 
insect and disease outbreaks only in response to: 
A. A specific threat to the functioning of a native ecosystem or managed wildlife 
habitat; 
B. A specific threat to human health or safety; or 
C. A condition that is likely to result in significant damage to adjacent lands if control 
is not exercised. 
• 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "H" to H.P. 541, L.D. 736 
For the purposes of this subsection, "sanitation harvest" means the removal of trees that 
have been attacked or are in imminent danger of attack by insects or disease in order to 
prevent these insects or diseases from spreading to other trees. 
5. Limits on total land acreage designated as ecological reserves. The total land 
acreage designated as ecological reserves may not 1exceed 15% of the total land acreage 
under thejUl'isdiction of the bureau or 100,000 115,000 acres, vrhichever is less. No more 
than 6% 8% of the operable timberland acres on public reserved lands and nonreserved 
public lands may be designated as ecological reserves. For the purposes of this subsection, 
"operable timberland" means land the bureau considers viable for commercial timber 
harvest operations and does not include inoperable lands, which are lands not suitable for 
timber production due to topography or hydrologic setting. Inoperable lands include 
ledges, steep slopes, nonforested barrens, mountaintops, nonforested wetlands and other 
nonproductive sites. Lands donated or acquired after the effective date of this section with 
the condition that the donated or acquired land be designated an ecological reserve are not 
included when calculating acreage limits under this subsection. 
The designation of land as an ecological reserve may not result in a decline in the volume 
of timber harvested on land under the jurisdiction of the bureau. For the purposes of this 
subsection, "a decline in the volume of timber harvested" means an annual harvest volume 
of less than the average annual harvest volume for the preceding 10 years sustainable 
harvest level on land under the jurisdiction of the bureau to less than the average annual 
harvest for the preceding 10 years. For purposes of this subsection. "sustainable harvest 
level" means the amount of forest products that can be harvested over time without 
reducing timber inventory and is determined by the operable timberland acres of land and 
the forest growth rate. 
6. Reporting requirements. The bureau shall report the status of ecological reserves 
under the reporting requirements of subchapters m .1 and I¥ 1,' 
Amend the bill by relettering or renumbering any nonconsecutive Part letter or section 
number to read consecutively. 
SUMMARY 
This amendment replaces the bill, which is a concept draft. Current law provides that 
the Director of the Bureau of Parks and Lands within the Department of Agriculture, 
Conservation and Forestry may designate additional ecological reserves only in 
conjunction with the adoption of a management plan for a particular parcel of land, and the 
process for adoption of that management plan must provide for public review and comment 
on the plan. The amendment requires the director to follow the same process to remove 
the designation of a parcel of land as an ecological reserve. 
Current law also provides that when a proposed management plan includes designation 
of an ecological reserve, the director is required to notify the joint standing committee of 
the Legislature having jurisdiction over public lands matters of the proposal. 
The 
amendment provides that when a proposed management plan includes the removal of a 
parcel ofland of 10 acres or more as an ecological reserve, the director is required to submit 
a report to the joint standing committee. of the Legislature having jurisdiction over public 
lands matters of the proposal prior to the bureau's updating the accompanying management 
plan for the parcel of land. The amendment specifies that the joint standing committee of 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT «/}<to H.P. 541, L.D. 736 
the Legislature having jurisdiction over public lands matters may report out a bill relating 
to the subject matter of the report. 
The amendment also adds the gathering of materials for cultural and traditional use by 
a member of a federally recognized Wabanaki Indian nation, tribe or band in this State to 
the list of allowed uses within an ecological reserve. 
The amendment authorizes the director to implement predete1mined wildfire tactics to 
protect the integrity of the landscape and requires the director to use minimal impact 
suppression tactics to the extent possible. 
The amendment increases the limitation on total land acreage designated as ecological 
reserves from 15% of the total land acreage under the jurisdiction of the bureau or 100,000 
acres, whichever is less, to 115,000 acres. The amendment also increases from 6% to 8% 
the operable timberland acres on public reserved lands and nonreserved public lands that 
may be designated as ecological reserves. The amendment clarifies the definition of 
"operable tin1berland" by specifying that it does not include inoperable lands. 
The amendment also clarifies that the designation of land as an ecological reserve may 
not result in a decline in the sustainable harvest level on land under the jurisdiction of the 
bureau to less than the average annual harvest for the preceding 10 years. 
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED 
(See attached) 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
Fiscal Detail and Notes 
Approved: 02/11/22 feae. 
LD736 
LR 1707(02) 
An Act To Enhance the Ecological Reserve System 
Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment ff{//-77 /) 
Committee: Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry 
Fiscal Note Required: Yes 
Fiscal Note 
Minor cost increase - General Fund 
Any additional costs to the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry as a result of the provisions of this 
bill are anticipated to be minor and can be absorbed within existing budgeted resources. 
LRl 707(02) - Fiscal Note - Page 1 of 1