Sec. 1. 12 MRSA §7656 is enacted to read:

§7656.__Establishing public access corridors for purposes of

fishing, hunting or trapping

The commissioner may purchase land or interests in land or may grant conservation easements over land in order to establish public access corridors to lands or waters for the purpose of fishing, hunting or trapping.__The commissioner shall consult with the Land for Maine's Future Board and the Director of the Bureau of Parks and Lands within the Department of Conservation on actions taken under this subchapter.

A corridor established under this section must be surveyed and described so that it can be located and a plan of the land or rights must be filed and recorded in the registry of deeds in the county or counties in which the corridor is located.__The filing of the plan and description vests the title to the land or right in the land to the State or its grantees, to be held during the pleasure of the State.

SUMMARY

This bill authorizes the Commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to purchase land or interests in land or to grant conservation easements over land in order to establish public access corridors to lands or waters for the purposes of fishing, hunting or trapping. The bill requires the commissioner to consult with the Land for Maine's Future Board and the Director of the Bureau of Parks and Lands within the Department of Conservation on any actions taken to establish such corridors.

The bill also requires the Commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to survey and describe the corridor and to file a plan of that corridor with the registry of deeds in the county or counties in which the corridor is located in the same way required by law when the commissioner acquires land to establish wildlife management areas under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 12, section 7652, subsection 1.