Given enough time, I knew they'd eventually re-emerge from the bushes.

Yep, the anti-development, anti-business, anti-timber harvesting folks are back, this time as the Save Moosehead Coalition. And they're vehemently opposing the Plum Creek development and conservation plan.

Good to see you again. I was getting worried.

Let's see... there's the Forest Ecology Network and the we're-against-all-timber-harvesting crew, the RESTORE-we-want-to-make-Maine-into-one-big-national-park crowd, and the American Lands Alliance and Friends of the Earth, a couple of groups out of the center of the elitist universe, Washington, D.C.

Be honest with us, will ya folks?!

You don't want development. Any development. So no amount of tinkering with the number of subdivision lots by Plum Creek is going to satisfy you.

You don't understand the science of silviculture or the business of forestry. Or you don't care to. Cutting any trees is taboo to you. So, again, no amount of conservation by Plum Creek will bring you around.

Jonathan Carter calls the plan "nonsense," that "their sprawl proposal is about dollars and cents."

Well, gee Jon, it kind of is. Imagine!

Imagine that a large private landowner, which also happens to be a large--hold onto your hats now--CORPORATION, wants to make money on its investment.

The nerve!

Further, that this investment might just be a boon to the local economy which has been in serious decline for 20 years. A local economy that includes real people who lead real lives and need to make real livings for themselves and their families.

And you'd like to deny them that?

Who's the hard-liner here?

That answer is pretty clear.

Let me tell you: When I look at the map of conservation lands that are existing and proposed around the Moosehead Lake region, I'm pretty damn impressed.

The green colors of the land conserved by public and private purchase or by conservation easement--and now including the Plum Creek lands--forms an incredible connecting arc from Baxter State Park nearly all the way west to the Canadian border, to the north and south of Moosehead Lake.

Do you know what that means for outdoor enthusiasts of all stripes?

It means a huge, nearly contiguous area of hundreds of thousands of acres of Maine forestland that is protected by conservation easement, available for the use and enjoyment of the public, while also available for use by the forest products and related industries.

I don't see that as a bad thing. Quite the opposite.

And yet for some, a vocal, out-of-touch and unsatisfiable minority, it isn't good enough.

Spell it out for me, please. Instead of continuing to rip Plum Creek and its supporters, tell us clearly and specifically: What is your plan?

What IS your plan?

By the way, I continue to get a kick out of the RESTORE folks who say stuff like this: "the [Plum Creek] ads are misleading because the conservation measures are not tied to the LURC application. By implying otherwise, Plum Creek is 'blurring the lines' and confusing Maine residents."

Now, would that "blurring" and "confusing" be anything like RESTORE printing up misleading brochures about a non-existent Maine Woods National Park and distributing them to the public as if it were a faits accomplis? Hmmm.

Finally, if you're not sure what a conservation easement is, and I believe it to be a very misunderstood term, click through for an explanation. Plum Creek's plan includes 400,000 acres of conservation easements. That's a really good thing that some just don't want you to know about.

And be sure to add your comments to today's updated news story.