Our landscape

"The ultimate question is whether a foxless, hawkless, owlless countryside is a good countryside to live in." So said famed conservationist Aldo Leopold some 50 years ago.

It's a question we in central Maine should be asking ourselves today. The "bedroom" communities of our region are growing in leaps and bounds thanks, in part, to affordable new home prices and to a lack of land use planning and regulation.

Litchfield, where I live, recently voted to reject a land use ordinance. Monmouth, Bowdoin, West Gardiner and Farmingdale, amongst others, are similarly timid. We want to keep our towns rural, yet time and again we refuse to plan ahead and put reasonable zoning regulations in place. The result is uncontrolled growth, escalating taxes and loss of wildlife.

One way to understand what makes our towns attractive is to learn about their natural attributes. Rural character is, after all, a mix of hills, woods, fields, marshes, streams, lakes and rivers. Rural character embraces farmland and woodlots that are vital to the local economy; further, our rural lands and waters provide essential habitat to a broad range of wildlife.

Irresponsible, slow but steady residential development on small lots destroys rural landscapes. Cumulatively, insidiously and without malice, we carve up the land, lose the rural character we seek and reduce wildlife habitat.

As we build houses, driveways, and roads, wildlife disappears or moves. Given our history, we won't do anything about it. However, the Litchfield Conservation Commission is working on these issues and the group's fresh insight might help.