PORTLAND (AP) – Plum Creek Timber Co. has accepted regulators’ conditions for its large-scale development plan for the Moosehead Lake region that calls for nearly 1,000 house lots, two large resorts and more than 400,000 acres of land conservation.

The Land Use Regulation Commission staff will now craft additional documents outlining the plan’s implementation. The final plan is expected to be put up for final approval early next year.

LURC in September gave its approval to Plum Creek’s proposal, including a controversial plan to develop a resort on Lily Bay, an unspoiled area that conservationists wanted left alone.

In accepting LURC’s conditions on the concept plan, Plum Creek’s general counsel wrote that many of the conditions were difficult to accept and would burden the company with additional costs.

At the same time, “we believe the concept plan … is too important to all of us – the state of Maine, the Moosehead region and our company – to abandon our efforts at this point,” James Kraft wrote.

Luke Muzzy, Plum Creek’s project manager, said the company will now await LURC’s recommendations on how the company should implement its plan.

The project has drawn vocal criticism since it was first proposed 3½ years ago by Seattle-based Plum Creek.

From the start, opponents have said the plan is inappropriate for the largest undeveloped tract east of the Mississippi River. The development is the largest subdivision ever proposed in Maine and would be located in the North Woods made famous by Henry David Thoreau.

Supporters of the project contend the development would regulate growth and bring much-needed jobs and economic development to the region.