Public interest forum slated

NORWAY — A public interest forum "Protecting Land" will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, January 24, at Fare Share Commons on 443 Main Street in Norway.

Lee Dassler will talk about the Western Foothills Land Trust, where she serves as executive director. She will discuss the land trust movement in Maine, and nationally.

With some 1.8 million acres under protection, Maine ranks second in the nation. The Western Foothills group itself manages some 5,500 acres in 10 towns. Through easements, donations or purchase, land trusts hold or control land in collaboration with property owners, past or present.

Purposes include resource protections, wildlife conservation and preserving "open land." Lee Dassler will talk about how Western Maine Land Trust does its work and suggest ways in which landowners and the larger community benefits.

Nevertheless, there are questions. Does protecting land either through the state — 30% of Maine's total — or through cooperative entities like land trusts mean trouble for private land owners?

What's the effect of protected land being removed from local tax rolls? And, anyway, who should own or control land, what with topsoil's life — sustaining function and vast wealth derived from what's underneath?

Join the group with your ideas, experience and questions. There will be refreshments.

For more information, call Tom Whitney at 743-2183.