Northwest Maine - what's up with it? (Millinocket, Ashland: lease, homes)

[RomaniGypsy]

Reading maps of Maine, I see a big fat lot of NOTHING in the northwest section of the state. There are a bunch of seemingly very long roads that say "private road - permit and fee required", and NO TOWNS. What's up with that? Do people actually own land up there, in small tracts, or do the few landowners represented up there own like tens of thousands of acres?

If there are no towns, is there no property tax either?

I'm talking about places like northern Piscataquis County, western Aroostook County, etc. It seems like people only inhabit maybe 50% of Maine's surface area. Go to the main City-Data page for Maine, click on "All Towns and Villages" to show all of those markers on the state map, and look at the area that has no markers at all. That's what I'm talking about.

Can anyone tell me about that area?

[CoastalMaineiac]

Originally Posted by RomaniGypsy

Reading maps of Maine, I see a big fat lot of NOTHING in the northwest section of the state. There are a bunch of seemingly very long roads that say "private road - permit and fee required", and NO TOWNS. What's up with that? Do people actually own land up there, in small tracts, or do the few landowners represented up there own like tens of thousands of acres?

If there are no towns, is there no property tax either?

I'm talking about places like northern Piscataquis County, western Aroostook County, etc. It seems like people only inhabit maybe 50% of Maine's surface area. Go to the main City-Data page for Maine, click on "All Towns and Villages" to show all of those markers on the state map, and look at the area that has no markers at all. That's what I'm talking about.

Can anyone tell me about that area?

A lot of that land is paper company land. It is open to the public in many areas for hunting, camping, and fishing. There are some ATV trails up there, but the logging trails are not open to ATVs, to my knowledge.

I don't know exactly where the gates are, but I know the Golden Road is a 100+ mile stretch of road from the Canadian Border all the way to Millinocket. You do have to pay a fee per person to cross the gates. If you make the trip, you must make sure your vehicle and tires are in good shape, and your tank is full of gas. It's a wilderness area up there. Also, logging trucks have the right of way everywhere, since it is logging territory. You are expected to pull over and get out of the way.

There are others here that would be more knowledgeable about the tax situations of unincorporated land. I believe you pay property taxes to the state in that case. Maine isn't going to pass up an opportunity to rob you of your money.

[RMoore007]

I found this about who owns Maine's forest.

Who Owns Maine's Forest?

[Coaster]

The land you're looking at is unincorporated territory, meaning it isn't part of an incorporated town or city. The landowner pays property taxes to the state of Maine. Most folks call it the North Woods. If you look at eastern Maine away from the coast, you'll see much the same phenomenon.

There are some year-round dwellings there and quite a few seasonal places on land leased or bought from the big landowners. Those people also pay their property taxes to the state.

Originally the land was owned by the big paper companies, but they mostly sold their properties to investment companies in the 1980s and 1990s. The land was retained for its tree production rather than development. Irving is the largest landowner in the North Woods now, but its paper mills are in Canada.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Read the above posts with caution:

1. There is no paper company in Maine any more. It is all gone.

2. The correct term is "Unorganized Territory".

3. People do live there year round and there are still areas of private property. The people still here are hardy liberty loving folks.

4. The immense scope of the changes in Northern Maine in the last few years is not known or understood by the majority of Mainers. People will not intentionally mislead you. They just don't realize what has happened to us. As an example, in the late 1980s we had a spruce budworm epidemic that killed much of our spruce forests. The environmental industry said that the necessary salvage operations were evil corporations raping the land. Newspapers publish photos of a vast clear cut. The photos were taken in Siberia, but the impression was made. City people still have the idea that our forests are gone.

[Submariner]

52% of Maine is Unorganized Townships.

Every square foot of Maine is in some township. All townships in Maine have designations.

People do live in the Unorganized Townships of Maine.

[beltrams]

Many of the roads are a cooperative effort of the multiple landowners. This entity controls access: North Maine Woods, Ashland, Maine

[maineguy8888]

It's called the Big Woods. A few people live there, but very few. It's semi-wilderness.

[RomaniGypsy]

Originally Posted by maineguy8888

It's called the Big Woods. A few people live there, but very few. It's semi-wilderness.

It sounds great, frankly, to live somewhere that is very sparsely populated but actually gets rain and isn't hotter than Hades in the summer. I would wonder... how do they get to their homes? Do they just suck it up and use those private permit roads?

And why do so few people live there? Why has there been so little demand for homestead property in that area that it hasn't seen an appreciable increase in population commensurate with the American population increase? Is it full of hostile wild animals or something? Is the weather really crazy? There must be a reason...

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by RomaniGypsy

... And why do so few people live there?

We prefer it this way.

... Why has there been so little demand for homestead property in that area that it hasn't seen an appreciable increase in population commensurate with the American population increase?

No jobs.

... Is it full of hostile wild animals or something?

Oh, yes, man-eating animals. squirrels with big teeth that can rip your head off clean at your shoulders. They are smart buggers, with big teeth. The chipmunks are bad too. Big teeth!

... Is the weather really crazy? There must be a reason...

Thats it, we have four seasons. That keeps folks away.