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Old 06-30-2015, 02:10 AM
 
Location: Northern Maine
10,428 posts, read 18,562,067 times
Reputation: 11562

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Didn't you know that Congress just passed a new law giving the Army Corps of Engineers control over all the watersheds, not just "navigable" waterways? Every square inch of our nation is in one watershed or another. As John Belushi said in Animal House, "Game over, Man."
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Old 06-30-2015, 07:55 AM
 
506 posts, read 679,141 times
Reputation: 704
Quote:
Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man View Post
but we have a few tyrannical zealots in state government. We need to shine the bright light of truth on these petty people.
With Governor Paul LePage being the biggest of the "tyrannical zealots" and "petty people".

By the way.......I agree that the DEP/Dept. of Conservation has some real a-holes. I've been through the same type of thing with them concerning "wetlands". Don't EVER apply for "grants" with them as it concerns agriculture and drainage.
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Old 07-01-2015, 04:18 PM
 
6 posts, read 5,502 times
Reputation: 16
Default additional info guys I appreciate your assistance

Thanks all of you. I thought I was losing my mind with this guy I spent my entire summer last year away from my family and kids pulling back all the gravel I used to flatten out my back yard and try and create a lawn so the kids could play ball. He also made me rejuvenate an area near the stream that was eroded by the stream diverting because of the previous owners logging job which log jammed stumps and trees across the stream completely blocking it and eroding the banking. I had this documented by a picture I had taken with my kids climbing on the mountain of stumps in the stream. He told me it was my responsibility to clean up the damage. I did. I also removed 3 tiny shallow rock dams by hand. Spent several hundred on wetlands seed another several hundred on hay bales and silt fence. Moved back thousands in gravel and spread in my parking and driveway area.

I stated I thought the water running over and through the rocks created bubbles and thus oxygen and thus good for plant and fish life. He said no it blocks the fish from swimming up stream.

I then asked him why I couldnt remove the fallen trees from across the stream when they completely block the stream but the rocks dont. He said because thats the law. I said well there is a ledge outcop down the stream near the driveway thats been there for thousands of years that no fish can swim up and am I supposed to blast that and get rid of that. He then told me that he has no jurisdiction 75 feet away from the stream. But told me I couldnt put a 12 inch culvert drain pipe across the old logging trail which is 128 feet away from the stream.

And this is a kicker!!!! When I filled out the paperwork to construct a snowmobile bridge on the back of my land to replace the old ITS bridge which is falling down he told me I had to get permission from Army corp of engineers. I asked why as it is just a typical log bridge and whill not touch or affect the water or bankings in any way. He said I had to call them and gave me their number. I called them when I returned home and the man who answered asked was I installing pilings I said no he said are you pouring concrete walls I said no and he said are you altering the waterway in any way I said no putting logs across the span to build a snowmobile bridge. He said why in the world are you calling us. I told them DEP told me I needed their permission he said no your all set laughed and hung up.


I asked the DEP guy why the loggers are allowed to go near the stream leave debris and create ruts on same parcel of land which they nearly destroyed and his response was "we give loggers a little more lee way" . Dont get me wrong I was a forestry major in college. Always dreamed of owning a log cabin and now I have one. I also think its funny that when I drive home I see the Maine highway department drive right through the "cat in nine tails" and wetlands on the side of the highway while mowing the grass. LOL


Only good news from this is that the nutt case that called on me .... who everyone up there hates. Doesnt like me because he is an "environmentalist" doesnt like that I am from massachusetts, doesnt like like the fact that I have snowmobiles and doesnt like that I drive a large pickup. His words. Funny that I had still given him permission to get water from my stream by accessing my land as he has no power no telephone no septic and no electricity. I also was informed that he was arrested for growing a marijuana farm on his land. I could really care less but its funny that the DEP guy went to visit him on his land which he is never there and soon there after the neighbors told me that he had federal agents searching his property. I think the DEP guy whom he called went to visit him and discovered his marijuana farm and dimed him out. hahaha What a dope. HMMM where does that term come from?
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Old 07-01-2015, 04:22 PM
 
6 posts, read 5,502 times
Reputation: 16
Hello just saying thanks and I appreciate any advice you may offer.
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Old 07-01-2015, 04:30 PM
 
Location: Northern Maine
10,428 posts, read 18,562,067 times
Reputation: 11562
Welcome back. We wondered if you were one of the hit and run one post spammers.
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Old 07-01-2015, 06:20 PM
 
Location: Northern Maine
10,428 posts, read 18,562,067 times
Reputation: 11562
"And this is a kicker!!!! When I filled out the paperwork to construct a snowmobile bridge on the back of my land to replace the old ITS bridge which is falling down he told me I had to get permission from Army corp of engineers."

This DEP guy is deranged. You don't need to ask anybody to put in a snowmobile bridge. As long as the cross sectional area above the brook is 2.5 times the high water cross sectional area of the brook you just build it. That is called a "permit by rule". It applies to everybody. If you need to dig IN the brook you are supposed to get a permit. They are often just done over the phone and you get a permit number.

I know this guy's boss. I don't mean his immediate supervisor; I mean the top dog in the organization. Send me a PM. Just click up there on my name and you will be invited to send a message.

Last edited by Northern Maine Land Man; 07-01-2015 at 07:17 PM..
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Old 07-02-2015, 08:36 PM
 
6 posts, read 5,502 times
Reputation: 16
Default DEP does more harm than good

You cant pick and chose violations. If your going to decide on a violation then its a violation for everyone. Dont allow loggers to destroy a property because they are cutting wood and destroy a piece of land then hammer a homeowner with fines because he digs a hole with a shovel in his back yard. This doesnt help the dep. They have way too much authority and it usually goes to their heads.
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Old 07-03-2015, 06:56 AM
 
Location: Northern Maine
10,428 posts, read 18,562,067 times
Reputation: 11562
Then there are "vernal pools". A real vernal pool is a natural depression in the ground where water collects in the spring. It is normally dried up as soon as the frost is out of the ground. They exist in all counties in Maine and they are very numerous. Tiny forest creatures reproduce there. These are salamanders, tree frogs and fairy shrimp.

The environmentalists got gullible legislators to enact a law that you can't build or do much of anything within 250 feet of a vernal pool. They viewed that as a defeat because they wanted the distance to be a quarter mile. If you do the math, the 250 foot radius is 5.3 acres that they seized for each of the many thousand vernal pools in Maine. City legislators had no idea what they did to rural Maine. What if the owner of a four acre lot had a vernal pool that is ten feet square. The DEP just made that lot unbuildable.

The landowner says it is NOT a vernal pool. The DEP says the landowner has to prove it. He has to hire a salamander expert to go into the vernal pool with waders and a net and count egg masses while the water is at a certain temperature. Hey, you can't make this stuff up. The DEP was overjoyed at their new authority. There was just one problem. There were about three salamander egg experts in Maine. None were in the Yellow Pages under salamander egg experts. It was not possible for the landowner to comply with the the law. That is the DEP's favorite kind of law.

At the next legislative session they changed the law. There are still restrictions, but the DEP can no longer call every wet skidder rut in Maine a vernal pool. (My spell checker does not like the word 'skidder'.) Makes me smile every time it happens.
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Old 07-08-2015, 08:54 PM
 
Location: NJ
173 posts, read 163,869 times
Reputation: 119
Hey Snowmobile glad to hear your problem is mostly resolved. It looks like the socially inept neighbor hung himself Don't know if that completely solves the DEP issue. Glad it's working out for the most part.
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Old 07-09-2015, 05:23 PM
 
Location: Northern Maine
10,428 posts, read 18,562,067 times
Reputation: 11562
"NMLM did op ever get back to you?"

Yup.
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