Some residents are upset with International Paper’s plan.
By Donna M. Perry
Staff Writer

COPLIN PLANTATION – International Paper plans to spray herbicides on about 250 acres of the approximate 17,000 it owns here. Some residents are upset with IP’s plan and may ask the court to issue an injunction to stop the spraying.

Those opposed say they’re planning to contact the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department in Farmington to help uphold an ordinance that some voters adopted in October 2001 to ban spraying of pesticides.

However, plantation assessors and a representative of Maine’s Land Use Regulation Commission say the plantation doesn’t have the authority to adopt such an ordinance.

IP is conducting the spraying as part of its forestry management plan to protect and help grow natural softwood seedlings, now being crowded out by hardwoods and other vegetation, said IP forester Joel Swanton. The spraying will be done on several small parcels in the plantation between mid- to late-August and late September depending on weather.

The company delayed aerial spraying of the herbicides the last two years after some residents concerned about potential damage to the environment opposed the practice. Residents Basil and Harriet Powers and plantation Treasurer/Tax Collector John Karchenes led the effort to adopt an ordinance to ban pesticide spraying.

But prior to the special town meeting, plantation assessors called off the meeting in late September 2001 when officials learned that plantations such as Coplin have no authority to enact ordinances unless the ordinance is mandated by the state.

Despite the assessors’ letter to residents and information that suggested the ordinance wouldn’t be legal if adopted, the special town meeting went on and voters in attendance adopted it. The Powers and plantation Assessor Danny Barker were unavailable for comment Monday.

Swanton said IP was notified by Coplin Plantation assessors that the ordinance wasn’t legal or valid due to voting procedures used and that the plantation doesn’t have the authority to adopt the ordinance.

Karchenes said it’s a really “messy situation.” Townspeople legitimately called a meeting and voted to enact an ordinance to prohibit the practice, he said.

“People don’t want to be sprayed,” said Sheriff Dennis Pike, who was there. “We may have to get an injunction to stop it. Why shouldn’t we have the right to adopt an ordinance? We’ve adopted ordinances before … This is a serious kettle of worms.”

The state Board of Pesticides does list Coplin Plantation as having an ordinance that prohibits aerial and, or mechanical application of pesticides. But Gary Fish, a certification specialist with the Maine Department of Agriculture said the state is listing the ordinance but it is not up to them to determine if it is legal or not. He said he met with the Powers this spring and suggested they contact Land Use Regulation Commission, which oversees plantations and townships, to determine if the ordinance is legal.

Frederick Todd, LURC’s manager of planning and administration, said Coplin Plantation doesn’t have the authority to enact or enforce a pesticide ordinance. He said he couldn’t find it anywhere in state statutes that allows a plantation to adopt such an ordinance.

It’s not a town and ruled by Home Rule, he said.

“Under state statute, plantations can only do what they are expressly told to do,” he said.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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