Maine lawmakers try to thread the needle on forest protections

Maine lawmakers try to thread the needle on forest protections

Horns Pond in Bigelow Preserve. Photo by Emmett Gartner.Late last year a team of ecologists came to a dire conclusion: without new conservation and management initiatives, half of the oldest forests in Maine’s unorganized territory could be gone in the next 35 years. A bipartisan bill introduced by state Sen. Rick Bennett (R-Oxford) aims to reverse that trend while also protecting Maine’s undeveloped lakes and ponds through prescriptive conserva…