Maine Subdivision Rules - Should You Develop Your land?

In Maine, there is a difference between a division of land and a subdivision of land. In most municipalities dividing your property into two separate lots requires little or no permitting. However, dividing a property into 3 separate lots within a 5-year period does require approval in [...]

Has your land in Maine been on the market for 6 months, 12 months, 2 years or more? Few showings, no offers and you think that something must be wrong. Well something probably is. Here are the [...]

When you are in the market to purchase land one important consideration is soil quality.  Your soil considerations should be based on the intended use for the land. Do you want to grow crops, graze animals, manage timber, provide recreation opportunities or conserve wildlife, wetlands and other sensitive features? The higher the soil quality [...]

Maine has four current use programs to reduce taxes on land that is used primarily for a specific purpose. The four programs are tree growth, open space, farmland, and working waterfront. The following is a brief explanation of each program with links to guide you to more detailed [...]

Most Maine citizens and landowners think fire prevention when they consider the Maine Forest Service. They do a great job of that, but they do so much more. The district foresters have many duties and one of them includes consultations with owners of Maine woodlands to help them better understand and manage their [...]

What a difference a year has made for Maine waterfront. Coming into the end of 2016 it appears that the waterfront land market is heading in the direction of a sellers market. The indicators are a 20% increase in the number of waterfront land sales in the past 12 months as compared to the 2015 numbers and an average market time reduced by [...]

Maine has a long tradition of landowners allowing reasonable public access to private lands. As a Mainer I want to thank all of those land owners who allow this. I do not post my land as we also enjoy using lands of other landowners who also allow access for recreation on their [...]

The mention of property taxes often stirs controversy among our citizens. The fact is most of us in some way use the services that tax money pays for from educating our children to keeping infrastructure maintained. If you do not agree with how the money is spent get more involved in the process. This post is for those who think they are [...]

I just attended an educational class on forestry issues taught by State Foresters Terri Coolong and Oliver Markewicz. This informative session covered topics of the Maine Tree Growth Tax Program, Maine Forest Practices Act including liquidation harvest laws, foreign investment in agriculture land rules and other [...]

There is something special about a walk in the woods. Inspecting the tracks of forest animals, listening to the distant "wack-wack-wack" of the pileated woodpecker, watching a busy beaver putting the finishing touches on her dam, these and many other woodsy events are just a few reasons why we own land. To better care for and use [...]