The state of Maine is looking for partners to help buy Rick and Wanda Lang’s Dresden riverfront acreage – considered the most significant prehistoric site in Maine.

Money for the purchase is still not enough to meet the asking price, so negotiations are in a "holding pattern," according to the state’s lead man on the efforts.

Both Rick Lang and state archeologist Arthur Spiess, of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission (MHPC), confirmed last week that the Langs are asking for more money than a July appraisal determined it was worth. Rick Lang called into question details of the appraisal that, he believes, caused it to be too low; meanwhile, Spiess said there isn’t enough funding to pay what the Langs are asking.

Neither Spiess nor Lang would say how much the Langs are seeking, although Lang described it as "considerably less" than the nearly $500,000 an earlier appraisal had determined it was worth. Spiess declined to predict the likelihood of the purchase still happening. However, Lang expressed optimism that it will.

"We are close, and if they can come up with just the little bit more that they need, then they can own it," Lang said in a telephone interview Saturday. "Hopefully, they can make it work."

An earlier appraisal, by a conservancy interested in the site, came to nearly $500,000, he noted.

Lang said he has not had his own appraisal done, but that he has had a comparative market analysis (CMA) done. "And that all comes back in the $500,000 range," he said.

Spiess, in a telephone interview last Friday, said figures in the July appraisal were acceptable to the Land For Maine’s Future Board (LMFB). The Board has already pledged about $228,000 in funds from a bond issue. "But the owners are asking more for the property than the appraised value, and we can’t do a deal at more than the appraised value," Spiess said.

"We’re working on other partners, but it’s a very tough time, economically," Spiess continued. "We’ve asked around, to see if anybody is interested, and nobody has stepped forward."

The recent appraisal, by the Mattor Company of Hollis, lists scenarios for three different combinations of acreage on the site. A 6.7-acre portion was appraised at $240,000; a 10.2-acre portion was appraised at $330,000; and a 10.7-acre portion, at $270,000, according to documents Spiess provided at the Wiscasset Newspaper’s request.

Based on the style of tools that have been found, and testing of a charcoal sample from a firepit, the state determined that the site along the Kennebec River served as a campground 7,000 years ago. The discovery shed new light on how Native Americans repopulated Maine after the Ice Age. Experts had believed that small groups traveled quickly northeastward. The Dresden campground suggests that a large, organized group used the site seasonally. The waterfalls that formed there after the Ice Age made it a good fishing spot, archeologists have said.

The Langs have allowed the state to study the site, and Rick Lang said Saturday, "They can come anytime." But officials have said ownership would ensure long-term access for research, and protection from looters.

Lang said he has done a small amount of digging, finding many bits of tools and fish bones. "You can dig about anywhere and find stuff," he said of the site.

In another development regarding the state’s pursuit of the prehistoric site, the town of Dresden has satisfied a concern Spiess recently expressed about the property.

A series of letters, obtained from the town and Spiess, discuss the question of whether Lang’s property could legally be subdivided. (It can, town officials concluded.) The first letter, which Spiess wrote September 11 to First Selectman John Ottum, also reveals how Spiess came to ask that question.

Spiess told Ottum in that letter that he had received a telephone call from State Sen. Seth Goodall. "He requested an update on our negotiations, then mentioned a possible outstanding legal issue, raised by an abuttor," Spiess wrote.

According to other letters, abuttors Philip and Tammy Houdlette first raised the frontage issue in 2008.

The MHPC and the LFMB "will need an answer to this question in order to determine whether the appraisal is correct and acceptable, because the appraisal was done on the basis that legal road access to the lot/possible subdivision was possible," Spiess wrote to Ottum.

On September 25, Dresden Code Enforcement Officer Bruce Engert wrote to Spiess, at Ottum’s request. Engert stated that he "personally measured" the distance from the south side of the driveway to the southerly property line. "Since River Rd. is state highway Route 128, the driveway entrance permit was correctly issued by the Maine State (Department of Transportation), and accepted by the town," Engert wrote.

Along with his letter, Engert sent to Spiess a copy of an October 5 letter from attorney Eliot Field to Lang. Field, who also does legal work for the town, has represented Lang on the frontage issue that the Houdlettes raised last year. Field wrote the parcel did not meet lot-depth requirements when the Houdlettes created it, because there was no road to serve it. But when Lang bought it and put in the road, that brought the parcel into compliance, Field wrote.