[ Maine ] …Plum Creek touts the presumed economic benefits of its development proposal in the Moosehead Lake region… Dr. Charles Colgan of the Muskie School for Public Policy has forecast the economic benefits of three sectors of the proposed development: industrial forestry, tourism, and construction. A close reading of the report actually reveals that the most controversial aspects of Plum Creek’s proposal — the 975 house lots sprawling to the far reaches of the state’s largest lake — would contribute very little to the region’s economy, compared to the economic impacts of traditional forestry and back-country recreation. The Colgan report affirms a frequent finding of natural resource economics: that forests open to forestry, hunting, wildlife and back-country recreation are much more valuable than house lots.

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