Putting what could eventually become the largest residential development in the state's history in one of its most sensitive natural areas will change the Moosehead Lake region forever.

But Land Use Regulation Commission members who voted to approve the Plum Creek Timber Co.'s concept plan know that not approving the plan would also change Moosehead Lake.

That's because development is coming to Maine's north woods. The state has some ability to steer that growth, but it can't prevent it.

After five years of proposal, counterproposal, hearings and amendments, here is the deal LURC approved:

Plum Creek will get approval for 975 house lots and two resorts, including one by the environmentally sensitive Lily Bay.

In exchange, about 400,000 acres of forestland around Moosehead will be protected from development and left open to sustainable forestry and recreation.

By itself, it would be one of the largest tracts of protected forest in the state and would connect about 2 million acres of conservation land, from Baxter State Park to the Canadian boarder.

Both sides have had to give. Plum Creek has had to move its proposed house lots closer together and away from remote ponds. Some environmentalists wish the conservation could have been secured without so much development, particularly at Lily Bay.

It is a compromise, and it prevents something that could have been much worse. Without the zoning change that Plum Creek requested, the entire 400,000 acres could have been developed haphazardly, creating more environmental impact than what has come before the commission.

Historical patterns of land ownership and land use are changing. The price of timberland is so high, it can't be supported solely by sustainable forestry.

Recreation, tourism and real estate development are part of the equation for current landowners.

Backcountry growth is no longer limited to unobtrusive fishing camps tucked between the trees. People are building large, year-round houses in sensitive areas, accessed by roads or private landing fields.

That is completely permissible under current law and could pose a threat to the future of commercial forestry and public recreation if the pattern continues.

Plum Creek's plan, as it now stands, balances the need to produce revenue through development and preserving forest around it. Some would argue that the loss of the undeveloped resource is too high, but the conservation benefit is substantial as well.

It is worth noting that LURC might have voted on a different Moosehead plan if it had completed its own comprehensive plan for the region before getting the Plum Creek proposal. Instead, it voted on a landowner's idea that has been improved by commission staff with the input of critics.

We hope that LURC will take what it has learned in this process and apply it to the other parts of the unorganized territories, where financial pressure is also likely to result in similar hard choices between conservation and development.