Department of Conservation

Augusta, Maine - (January 17, 2001) The Department of Conservation's Bureau of Parks and Lands has announced the adoption of the revised Integrated Resource Policy (IRP). The IRP will guide the management of approximately 580,000 acres of land managed by the Bureau for the next 10 years, and includes Reserved and Non-reserved lands, State Parks, and State Historic Sites.

The IRP creates a seven-layered hierarchy to achieve appropriate protection of natural, cultural, recreational, and wildlife resources. Areas most sensitive to management activities are allocated to the more restrictive categories that provide the greatest protection. These categories, ranked from the most sensitive to the least sensitive to management activities, are:

Special Protection Areas
Backcountry Recreation Areas
Wildlife Dominant Areas
Remote Recreation Areas
Visual Consideration Areas
Developed Recreation Areas
Timber Management Areas

The revised policy marks the completion of a process begun in February of 1998, when an Advisory Committee of 36 individuals from the public and private sector began the task of revising the original 1985 document. During the last two years, the Advisory Committee, with assistance from Technical Working Groups, examined the Bureau's land management policies pertaining to the Natural & Geological, Historic & Cultural, Fisheries & Wildlife, Recreation, and Timber & Renewable resources.

This work led to the development of a final draft of the IRP, made available for public comment in June 2000 at two public meetings. The Bureau also received over 125 written responses during the comment period.

Policies addressed in the IRP include:

commitments to established Ecological Reserves, which will provide significant tracts of public land where natural ecological processes will occur;
the encouragement of native species of plants and animals wherever habitat management is necessitated;
guidance in the management of the Bureau's various historic sites and areas of archeological importance, which safeguard their availability for research and public use; polices governing the development and use of various trail resources, including ATV, snowmobile, mountain biking, horseback riding, and hiking trails; and
initiatives that enhance the Bureau's sustainable forestry practices, including the further development of the GIS and Forest Inventory projects, and commitments to a third party audit program.

Copies of the revised IRP can be picked up at any of the five regional offices of the Bureau of Parks and Lands:

Eastern Lands Region Airport Road, PO Box 415 Old Town, ME 04468 (207) 827-5936	Western Lands Region 25 Main Street, PO Box 327 Farmington, ME 04938 (207) 778-8231	Northern Lands Region RR 1 Box 16DC Ashland, ME 04732 (207) 435-7966
Southern Parks Region Stevens Complex Winthrop Street (Hallowell) Augusta, ME 04333 (207) 624-6080	Northern Parks Region BMHI Complex, Bldg. H 106 Hogan Road Bangor, ME 04401 (207) 941-4014

Obtain copies by contacting the Bureau of Parks and Lands, 22 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333-0022; telephone (207)287-3061 or e-mail: dorothy.eaton@state.me.us.