Maine § 1857. - Timber trespass on public reserved lands

§ 1857.. Timber trespass on public reserved lands

1.  Director to prosecute trespass cases.  The director shall prosecute cases of trespass on public reserved lands under the care, custody, control or management of the bureau.

2.  Liability of trespassers.  If any person unlawfully enters or trespasses upon public reserved land while that land is under the care, custody, control or management of the bureau by cutting, destroying, taking or carrying away any trees, timber, wood, grass or other materials under or upon those lands without the express written consent of the bureau, that person and all persons participating in those actions are trespassers, jointly and severally liable in damages for such trespasses, and they may be sued for trespass in any county. The measure of damages is the highest price those materials would bring at the usual place of sale of the materials. If the trespass is willful, the court shall assess treble damages and the costs of maintaining the action. For the purposes of this section, a trespass is willful if the land upon which the materials were cut, destroyed or taken, or from which the materials were carried away, was posted with conspicuous notices of state ownership at or near the point where roads entered into the state-owned land; if the land is otherwise posted or identified in a manner reasonably likely to come to the attention of intruders; or if the intruder had actual knowledge of the fact of state ownership.

3.  Title to materials illegally taken to remain in State.  Title to all materials taken in violation of this section must remain in the State, and the State may seize and sell all such materials. At such a sale, no person who was in any way connected with committing such a trespass or who aided those who committed it may become a purchaser directly or indirectly.

4.  Penalty. 

5.  Trespass; duty of assessors.  The assessors in the organized plantations shall help police the public reserved lands within the boundaries of their respective plantations without any expense to the bureau. They shall immediately report any cutting or removal of timber or other materials of value to the director in writing. The assessors in plantations organized before March 1, 1974 may review and comment before final actions taken by the director under section 1847, subsection 3 on the public reserved lands located within their respective plantations.