The drive to abolish Maine’s Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) has stalled.

A task force will now be charged with examining all of the contentious issues revolving around LURC and report back to the legislature with recommendations no later than January 4, 2012.

LURC is the planning and regulatory state agency for the 10 million acres of unorganized territories, what many of us think of as the North Woods.

I went hunting on May 23. For Birds. Without a shotgun.

Except for the fact I didn’t have my old reliable 12-guage shotgun, hunting for birds with binoculars is very similar to the type of hunting with which I’m more familiar.

Seeking and sensing adventure, I quickly agreed when State Representative Bob Duchense of Hudson invited me to participate in a 24-hour birdathon – a fundraiser for Maine Audubon.

You know it’s going to be a long day when a legislative hearing begins with a 36-page amendment to the principle bill being heard - LD 1534, sponsored by Senate President Kevin Raye. But given the long and contentious history of the Land Use Regulation Commission, I guess something like this could have been expected.

Sharing your catch of fish with friends and neighbors is a Maine tradition. You share your fish with people at your campground, in the camp next to yours, and back home. My Dad always looks forward to the few brook trout I bring home from camp just for him.

Five years ago Roxanne Quimby reached out to her major critics – including me - to talk about the future of her Maine lands. At that time I could never have imagined what I heard Roxanne tell Millinocket area residents on May 5.

She plans to donate a significant parcel of her land to Peaks-Kenney State Park in Dover-Foxcroft (where her children learned to swim).

She plans to donate a portion of her lands in that area to the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to manage for remote wild brook trout ponds.