Rural Rentierism and the Financial Enclosure of Maine's Open Lands Tradition

Kelly Kay

Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 2017, vol. 107, issue 6, 1407-1423

Abstract: This article looks at the changing nature of property access regimes in northeastern Maine. The state's unique “open lands” tradition has come under threat as a result of the large-scale restructuring of the timber industry from vertically integrated forest products companies toward individual and institutional investor-owners. Using a large conservation project in the town of Grand Lake Stream as a case study, I argue that new investor-owners have been able to generate profits by enclosing long-standing common access regimes and commanding monopoly rent payments. After reviewing literatures on rent, enclosure, and the commodification of nature, I examine two prominent examples of this process of rent extraction through the enclosure of common access regimes: lease lots and working forest conservation easements. The article concludes arguing for regulatory intervention, as well as the need for more concrete case studies on the impacts of financial investment on the biophysical environment.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1080/24694452.2017.1328305

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