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LD 1048, An Act Regarding the Authority of Municipalities to Regulate Timber Harvesting, moves through the Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (ACF) Committee with a unanimous vote in support
LD 1048, An Act Regarding the Authority of Municipalities to Regulate Timber Harvesting, implements a 2021 stakeholder group report to the Maine Legislature. It balances municipalities? rights to make local decisions regarding land use activities with a landowner?s right to manage their woodlands long-term according to accepted forestry practices. The Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (DACF) testified in support of this bill.
To date, very few municipalities have contacted the Maine Forest Service regarding the adoption or amendment of forestry ordinances. LD 1048 has several provisions to ensure consistency in such laws across jurisdictions, to offer greater fairness to landowners, to ensure municipalities of the enforceability of their ordinances, and to assure that land managers, foresters, and loggers can readily and information about local rules that are clear and do not unreasonably impede management activities.
The bill requires municipalities that wish to enact local forestry ordinances to use standard terms that conform to definitions in State law. Towns must follow a better-defined process to ensure that such ordinances do not create unnecessary confusion or arbitrary limitations on accepted forestry practices. At the same time, the bill increases the deadline for towns to bring their ordinances into compliance and creates a more defined process by which Maine Forest Service would certify such ordinances and include them in a centralized registry.
LD 1048 passed out of the ACF Committee with full support and has now been tabled in the Senate. Reach out to your local representative for more information on LD 1048.
More information, including the bill text and public testimony can be found here: https://legislature.maine.gov/legis/bills/display_ps.asp?PID=1456&snum=131&paper=&paperld=l&ld=1048
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