Penobscots to Crack Down on Land Use

By Kevin Miller, Bangor Daily News, Maine

Jul. 12–The Penobscot Nation plans to more aggressively enforce the requirement that people receive permits before conducting research or any other work on tribal lands, a representative said Friday.

John Banks, director of the Penobscot Indian Nation’s Department of Natural Resources, said the tribe is not requiring anything new from anyone who wants to do work on Penobscot land. Rather, the nation is merely enforcing rules — in place since the 1980s — for activities on tribal land in Maine.

“We are concerned about an increasing amount of activity taking place on our land without our knowledge,” Banks said. “Our desire is to get a better handle on those activities and to monitor them because we are concerned about these things impacting our natural resources.”

The Penobscot Nation has jurisdiction over roughly 140,000 acres in Maine.

Tribal waters are generally open to fishing, although some areas have special restrictions. Banks said he does not believe that will change. Nontribal members are already required to receive special “access permits” for waterfowl, deer, bear and small-game hunting and eel trapping on Penobscot land, however.

But Banks indicated that the decision to step up enforcement was motivated by researchers and others doing work on tribal land — not sportsmen — without first obtaining a permit.

Anyone hoping to conduct any work on tribal land is required to receive a permit beforehand, he said. Without going into specifics, Banks gave the examples of trapping fish and other animals or collecting plant samples on tribal land without prior authorization.

“As a landowner, we are just letting people know that there is this permit requirement,” Banks said.

Anyone who does not obtain a permit will be asked to leave tribal land, Banks said. Refusing to leave will result in a summons for criminal trespassing.

Banks plans to send letters to officials in the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, the Department of Conservation and the Department of Environmental Protection reiterating the tribe’s plans to more aggressively enforce its jurisdiction.

Relations between the Penobscot Nation and the state of Maine have deteriorated in recent years. The most recent development came during the spring when the Penobscot leadership began severing ties with the state after Gov. John Baldacci vetoed a bill that would have allowed the tribe to operate 100 slot machines at its high-stakes bingo facility at Indian Island.

Banks said the issue of enforcing the permitting requirements has nothing to do with any tensions between the tribe and state officials.

“There is nothing new here,” Banks said. “It simply has to do with the tribe being a landowner and requiring that people who want access to our land going through the process.”

Anyone needing access to Penobscot Nation land to do any kind of work should contact John Banks at the Department of Natural Resources at 817-7330.

kmiller@bangordailynews.net

990-8250

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