If a tree falls in the woods near Northeast Carry and no one hears it, does it still make a noise?

Northeast Carry is a tiny outpost on the northern shore of Moosehead Lake.

Your Scribe wonders about the question of development in such remote areas as he ponders the debate about construction at Moosehead.

As a proverbial Jury of One, I do not know how I would vote if I had a direct interest (which I don't; my indirect interest is that I own land in cabin country).

I am currently arranging a trip to Greenville to meet with the folks from Plum Creek, the corporate entity that proposes a mega-development there.

The proposal is now being reviewed by state planners.

I am a laymen when it comes to this issue, like I suppose most Mainers are because so few live in the Moosehead area.

That having been said, my info shows that Plum Creek is seeking permission to rezone 11,000 acres for development now. About 25,000 acres will be reserved for development after 30 years.

Close to 975 house lots are planned in 55 subdivisons.

Half of those lots would be on seven lakes, the largest being Moosehead.

Two large resorts are also planned, one on Big Moose Mountain and another on the shore of Moosehead Lake at Lily Bay.

I have only been to Moosehead once, to ski at Big Squaw.

(An aside: I ate at the Roadkill Restaurant in Greenville, which advertised that its "sassy" wait staff would sit down with customers and "share insults." I realized then that I do not like to be insulted by the help).

But I continue to wonder whether a compromise couldn't be reached to permit development at Moosehead (with its jobs and investment) while still retaining the aura of the wilderness.

Thoughts:

- Is there any chance that middle-income people could buy houses or condos in this area? Or is it just for the very rich (who nevertheless are too late to buy into Camden or Kennebunkport)?

- Even The Maine Woods, an anti-development newspaper, notes that jobs in the wood-products industry are diminishing rapidly. Will there be any economy at all in the Moosehead region without construction and (added) tourism?

- What happens if the rural locals want the development, but the Augusta bureaucrats and white-shoe liberals of southern Maine don't want it? Is "local rule" democracy put on hold for the "greater good"?

- Wouldn't it be nice if you could believe what developers say? Almost everyone who has observed construction projects knows that all bets are off once the paperwork has been approved.

The proposal of such a mammoth construction project is a huge issue in cabin country.

I had better get moving on my plans to make an on-site appraisal.

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