The public gets its first opportunity to comment on a plan to rezone 51,000 acres within the Fish River Chain of Lakes at two public hearings later this month in northern Maine.
J.D. Irving’s proposed concept plan asks the Maine Land Use Planning Commission to allow new commercial and residential development around the lakes in addition to conservation plans and continued logging operations.
“We model our forests looking out 80 years,” said Anthony Hourihan, Irving’s director of land development. “At the same time we have these lakes with a lot of recreational opportunities and never really had an overall game plan for that land.”
Hourihan said the company has been working on the plan for five years.
“It’s a process,” he said. “It’s going slower than we like but we are feeling good at where we are.”
Irving owns 1.3 million acres of Maine forestland, including the large swaths of land in the Fish River Chain of Lakes to the east of the North Maine Woods. The land around the lakes is largely working timberland, but also is home to more than 400 lakefront camps on Cross, Square, Mud and Long lakes.
The County is pleased to feature content from our sister company, Bangor Daily News. To read the rest of “Irving unveils its plans for 51,000 acres in Fish River Lakes chain,” an article by contributing Bangor Daily News staff writer Julia Bayly, please follow this link to the BDN online.
