CHAPTER 30

H.P. 143 - L.D. 184

An Act to Clarify the Ability of the Maine Forest Service

and Tax Assessors to View Private Landowners' Forest

Management Plans

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

Sec. 1. 36 MRSA §579, 4th ¶, as amended by PL 2001, c. 603, §6, is further amended to read:

The assessor or the assessor's duly authorized representative may enter and examine the forest lands under this subchapter and may examine any information submitted by the owner or owners. A copy of the forest management and harvest plan required under section 574-B must be available to the assessor to review upon request and to the Director of the Bureau of Forestry within the Department of Conservation or the director's designee to review upon request when the assessor seeks assistance in accordance with section 575-A. For the purposes of this paragraph, "to review" means to see or possess a copy of a plan for a reasonable amount of time to verify that the plan exists or to facilitate an evaluation as to whether the plan is appropriate and is being followed.__Upon completion of the review, the plan must be returned to the owner or an agent of the owner. A forest management and harvest plan provided in accordance with this section is confidential and is not a public record as defined in Title 1, section 402, subsection 3.