In addition to the 34 camps and houses the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife owns on state-owned and leased lands, the state also owns 56 structures within the Department of Conservation that include staff housing and camps.
Department spokesman Jeanne Curran said there are 35 buildings in the northern and southern districts of the state that are used for work and a ski hut at Camden Hills State Park which can be rented overnight by the public for recreation.
The department also owns 12 camps in the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, four of which are used in all seasons, seven of which are used by seasonal employees, and one at Lock Dam that is used occasionally.
Will Harris, director of the Bureau of Parks and Recreation, said the Department of Conservation buildings are in a variety of conditions, including “rough.” He said the department’s maintenance staff does work to upgrade the buildings, but most of the funds are used to improve facilities that the public uses.
No department apparently has a running total of the values of the state properties.
Bob Doiron, supervisor of the Unorganized Territory for Maine Revenue Services, said it would be very time-consuming to establish a total value of the state-owned properties. The 9.4 million acres of Unorganized Territory in Maine have many owners and to look specifically at the state-owned properties would be “pretty time-consumptive,” Doiron said. “It would … literally be a case of looking through hundreds of property record cards for state-owned property to get to the specifics of what an individual property is valued.”
While his department does not keep a separate list of state-owned properties for their values, Doiron said members of the public are welcome to visit the office and do their own research, just as they would in a municipal office.