[§186-5.5]  Right to harvest.  (a)  Theowner of land shall have the right to harvest new trees generated according toa management plan approved by the department on lands within the agriculturaldistrict as provided by section 186-2(a)(1), or on degraded forest and pasturelands within the conservation district and zoned for commercial forest use asprovided by section 186-2(a)(2); provided that this right shall be subject tothe power of the State to protect health, safety, and welfare.

(b)  The State's liability as a result of theright to harvest new trees shall be limited to actions taken only by the Stateand shall not extend to any private property rights.

(c)  As used in this section, "degradedforests" means areas which have had considerable disturbance, are alteredfrom their natural state, and contain less than twenty per cent crown canopy ofnative tree species. [L 1994, c 207, §1]