AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage on Wednesday formally announced legislation that would combine the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources with the Department of Conservation.
The governor announced his intention last fall to propose a merger of those two state agencies to better serve the state’s needs and create efficiencies. The idea has the support of Agriculture Commissioner Walter Whitcomb, Conservation Commissioner Bill Beardsley and many natural resource industry leaders.
“Farming and forestry are an important part of Maine’s heritage, and can play a significant role in our economic engine,” LePage said in a statement. “These industries are important to Maine’s future, and it is important we maximize the potential of our natural resource-based economy to provide jobs and economic prosperity to Maine people.”
In the current fiscal year, the Agriculture Department’s budget is $47.7 million while Conservation’s is $48.6 million, according to the State Budget Office. Although there likely would be budget savings by combining the two departments, LePage has said the primary reason for proposing a merger is to give Maine a more unified voice in Washington, D.C.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jeff Timberlake, R-Turner, has been a farmer most of his life and said “It makes sense to combine the resources of both departments to emphasize the importance of being good stewards of Maine’s land.”
Once the bill is drafted and assigned an LD number, it is expected to be referred to the Legislature’s Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee.
The bill could have bipartisan support, but some groups, including the Natural Resources Council of Maine, have opposed a merger.
“We are not persuaded that this would be a good idea because it seems to suggest that Maine’s woods, waters and wildlife should be treated like crops and readied for market,” Cathy Johnson, NRCM’s north woods project director, said last fall.
Rep. Jeff McCabe of Skowhegan, the lead Democrat on the Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee, said he supports the merger as a concept.
“Unfortunately, it’s getting late in the session to start talking about this,” McCabe said. “We first heard about this last summer, but it hasn’t even got to our committee yet.
“I think there is also a feeling among some of ‘Why spend time on this if it’s not going to result in significant savings?’”
Several years ago, then-Gov. John Baldacci proposed a similar plan to combine four departments — Agriculture, Conservation, Marine Resources and Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. That initiative failed.
I trust it isn’t going to blindside people into thinking that this has anything to do with “stewardship” of the land. That is akin to throwing “green,” and “natural,” into everything, hoping the consumer won’t read the other ingredients. The Department of Agriculture must remain separate, and must be strengethed so that people who become involved in producing, and in selling value-added products can get the assistance they require.
Many of us do not want to hear a word from the Natural Resources Council until they abandon their support of industrial wind farms. These wind farms, which would not exist without massive tax and rate payer subsidies (it makes the oil industry look like pikers in percentage comparison), are destroying our mountaintops and rural Maine beauty. Go away NRCM and perhaps, move to Massachusetts, where a significant amount of your funds come from.
Many of us are not at all interested in hearing a word about conservation from an administration that doesn’t seem to understand what the word means.
Oh, please educate us as to your definition of conservation, and how the LePage administration has failed to kneel at the altar of property before people.
Sorry we didnt know you was actually reading the stories the way you usally respond it seems like you are just spouting off. And when you say[ many of us ] theres not really that many of you
No good definitive argument so you attack the person posting. Now that’s a clever way of dealing with it (not). By the way, there are quite a few of us who do not think LePage or any GOP politician has a genuine interest in conservation.
Forestry and agriculture both produce a crop. One crop takes longer to harvest, but there are similar needs for stewardship. The removal of one commissioner is not removing front line staff.
Conservation is a Ponzi scheme, anyway, so by all means . . .
Still say it’s a conflict of interest.
Down sizing….
Lets combine LePage’s position, his daughter’s position and Adrienne Bennett’s into one.
Cut the fat where it needs cutting.
my Maeberry your still taking them ugly pills arent you
I borrowed a few from you since you have plenty of ugly pills to spare.
People will lose there jobs there how will they do it ?? they will look at how long every one has been there say 20 years or more .Than they will figger out how much they will get for a pension than the state will put people on jobs that pay less than what they could draw on there pension so they will retire so they will not be working for nothing. Yes this has all ready happen to people there an i talked to a person that had that happen to him he’s in his 40’s an retired by the state
Yes, and then they go out and get another job while collecting public pensions…sweet, at the ripe old age of mid-40s. Also known as good old double dipping.
Its not a public pension
He is just all over the place now isn’t he? What’s next? …….Let’s consolidate all the people’s individual interest into one great big office, that he get’s to name the the supreme state bureaucrat whom is only accountable to ……him!
Agriculture deserves it’s own department, it’s a part of our state’s being and soul. There is no way that conservationist are going to understand the needs of agriculture. For instance: Is christmas tree farming agriculture? If it is, then can you viably recondition the land to re plant another crop?…..or is it tree growth and management? How does ocean farming come into play? which one trumps the other? He is talking about a merge of two distinct, and separate interest into one. Can’t you see a great big, huge argument coming?, I can. All for the sake of laying off a few state employees and streamlining……what? A bureaucracy that in of itself, is not compatible.
If I were he, and looking to make another department, I would be looking towards DHHS, which is where the problem seems to be right now.
I question, given his actions, everything.
He is the Gov. or did you forget again, you better get that checked out
Didn’t your mother ever tell you if you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all!
That’s what I’m worried about. He is extreme, demonstrably so. He doesn’t know when to compromise, he doesn’t know when to back off, he isn’t a leader, he is a “I want” type of guy, and that’s not a leader: his actions alone preclude him from being unquestionable.
I don’t care if he is the Governor or not. He is an elected official that is accountable for his actions, your representative has the same burden to meet, a post that I may add that this governor never had prior to being Chief Executive.
But he sure does get the job done!…effective, blunt, and the perfect governor with the right background to deal with revenue shortfalls and runaway spending inherited from the Dem’s regime.
this consolidation was ‘talked about’ for a long time; LePage is ‘doing it’…..A GOVERNOR WHO GETS THINGS DONE! WOW.
….and then there are Paul Violette, Pat Barnes and Dale McCormick who’ve squandered ten’s of millions on personal projects and social agendas.
You ought to sober up before writing in the comment section organic. You’ll be embarrassed tomorrow when you read your post’s.
The Department of Conservation includes the Bureau of Lands and Parks. What do our parks have to do with farming potatoes in the County or harvesting lumber?
Parks allow timber harvesting as part of their sustainable forestry initiative; in some parts of Maine, fallow farms are converted to trusts and forever wild parks….or would prefer them to be subdivided for the benefit of fat cat Democraps?
…and where were you when Baldacci ruined Maine’s small schools with his consolidation schemes…..WALMART Schools only give the govt. more control; and the people less.
I think y0u’ve been sniffing too much organic matter.
Let’s call it the Dept of AgriVation…
Great job Gov. LePage. Always thinking of the smart way to get things done.
Your funny!
Name it after Lepage!
Call it the Department of , Aggrivation!
OPPPS!
Sorry {ilovebeets}
It looks like you allready coined the phrase!
Hey Timberlake R-Turner, you’ve gotten it wrong. Republicans are not good stewards of anyones land! This is especially true of public land holdings. It is GOP doctrine that the government should not have any land holdings and there is a constant push to privatize all publicly held property. If the GOP had it’s way Lady Liberty herself would be administered by XYZ Corporation. Come on Timberlake, admit it.
Maine’s Republicans preserved the ‘best of Maine’s wilderness and are still guided by the visions of Percival Baxter and the Rockefellers. Many ‘rare lands’ are family owned and protected; many are Republicans.
Without private protection and enhancement; you wouldn’t have a Baxter State Park or Acadia or any of the many Land trusts which are built around coastal estates.
What the heck do you watch anyway besides talking points from Obamacrats?
The republicans of the Rockefeller age were much different than republicans of today. But not completely different. Their fortune was made at the expense and exploitation of the common man and don’t kid yourself about it. Starting with the banks and railroads of the late 19th century. The salve on their wound of conscience was to convince themselves that projects for the public absolved them of responsibility for the horrific way they treated the common man. They owed the American people those lands and then some.