Once a thriving part of the state that significantly contributed to Maine's timber and tourism industries, the Moosehead Lake Region is now at a crossroads.

Entering Greenville from the South

While their neighbors in southern Maine are enjoying economic prosperity, the towns of Jackman, Rockwood and Greenville are coping with a lack of jobs and dwindling populations that threaten this remote area's culture and traditional values.

School enrollments are declining and empty hospital beds are placing further burdens on the region's infrastructure; and a lack of opportunity is putting a tighter squeeze on the local tax base and discouraging incentive for sustainable economic investment.

But no one wants to sacrifice the region's remote characteristics, its beautiful and diverse landscape, wildlife or culture. So how do you preserve Moosehead's traditions while simultaneously planning for its future?

It all comes down to developing a comprehensive, long-term plan that is crafted with the region's unique needs and resources in mind. Plum Creek spent more than three years meeting with state, regional and local officials to develop a plan that could become a catalyst for the region's economic prosperity and satisfy our desire for predictability about the future of our working forestlands.

We listened to the region's residents who asked for economic opportunities that would not sacrifice or degrade the region's remote characteristics. We listened to those who visit Moosehead for its abundance of recreational opportunities about their desire to maintain access to these unique Maine treasures. And we listened to hundreds of people who work in the woods and want to ensure the forest will continue to support those jobs.

Through a historic offering of permanent conservation easements on our land, Plum Creek's Plan responds to those concerns by focusing upon the region's traditional industries — nature-based tourism and timberland management — to reinvigorate a sustainable and balanced economy in a region that desperately needs it.

It is the same approach to economic prosperity that the town of Greenville envisioned when adopting its 1999 Comprehensive Plan; and it remains a constant theme in a variety of private and public studies of the region's economic future, including LURC's 1997 Comprehensive Land Use Plan, a document that calls for placing development in appropriate places to support the region's economy and protect its remote characteristics.

In fact, "enhanced utilization of our natural resources" is identified as one of six strategic goals outlined in the mission statement of the Somerset County Economic Development Corporation.

In essence, Plum Creek's Plan provides economic prosperity by protecting the region's most valuable assets.

The Moosehead Lake area will continue to change as its land, people and wildlife face increasing pressures from outside forces, which includes the fragmented development now taking place in other parts of the state.

Although change is inevitable, careful and balanced planning for the future will allow Moosehead's traditions, culture and history to thrive and endure.