Northern Maine landowners and residents said Wednesday that the state agency that oversees land use in the North Woods should be abolished - or at least made more accountable to the people it regulates.

The Maine Land Use Regulation Commission, they argued, is more interested in protecting the region as a playground for the rest of the state than letting local people and businesses use their private lands to make a living.

"It's gotten out of hand," said Raymond Coffren, a dairy farmer in Salem Township, part of the unorganized territories. "We let you hunt. We let you fish. We let you snowmobile. ...

"If you keep this up, Mr. LURC, I can assure you, you're going to lose all these rights, because the 'no trespassing' signs and the gates are going to go up."

Coffren and dozens of others spoke Wednesday during an all-day public hearing before the Legislature's Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee. The committee is considering six separate proposals, ranging from abolishing LURC to assigning more of its seven seats to people who live within its jurisdiction.

The proposal to abolish the agency would transfer planning and development oversight to the 13 county governments in the region.

Opponents of the bills, including state officials and conservationists, defended the commission and said it is doing what it was created to do 38 years ago: Manage land use in the forests for the benefit of the entire state.

"The unorganized territories are important to all of Maine, and decisions about development should be made accordingly," said Eliza Townsend, deputy commissioner of the Department of Conservation.

At issue is oversight of those territories - 10.4 million acres of forests that are sparsely populated and have no local governments.

Although mostly privately owned, the area has historically been open to recreational use and is considered one of Maine's defining assets.

The hearing Wednesday was the latest round in a decades-long feud over control of the North Woods.

Several of the bills presented have been voted on at least once before.

But the frustration with the state's land commission is running higher than usual now because the agency is writing a new comprehensive plan for the region, and landowners and residents fear that it will restrict their rights in the interest of recreational users.

The plan is scheduled to be completed later this year, but would be derailed if the Legislature agrees to abolish the commission.

Also feeding into the frustration was the three-year battle over Plum Creek Timber Co.'s development plans for the Moosehead Lake region.