Conservation Group Purchases Forest in Maine
12/16/98
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Title: Conservation Group Purchases Forest in Maine
Source: Portland Press Herald
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 16, 1998
An extensive tract of forest land in the northwest corner of Maine
will remain forever undeveloped and open to the public, a
conservation group announced Tuesday.
The Nature Conservancy will purchase the 286-square-mile swath
of forest in Aroostook and Somerset counties, including a
40-mile stretch of the upper St. John River, for $35.1 million. The
acreage represents 1 percent of the state's total land mass and
encompasses some of the most pristine forest in New England.
It's the largest acquisition, by far, that the 900,000-member
conservation organization has made anywhere in the world, and may be
the largest single conservation purchase made by any group in
Maine history.
Kent Womack, executive director of The Nature Conservancy in Maine,
said the deal will protect "the premiere wilderness river in the
Northeast."
The forests, rivers and wetlands in this area teem with wildlife and
are rich in recreational opportunities, Womack said at a news
conference in Augusta. "We intend to keep this resource undeveloped,
undiminished and open forever for the people of Maine."
The Maine transaction is the second major purchase of northern New
England woodlands for conservation purposes in less than a week.
In a $76 million deal announced last week, conservation groups,
private foundations, corporations and three states will cooperate in
the purchase of 144,352 acres in New York, 133,289 acres in Vermont
and 18,608 acres in New Hampshire owned by the Champion International
paper company.
The Maine lands purchased by the Nature Conservancy encompass about
a third of the 120-mile upper St. John River. It is a watershed known
for an abundance of moose, bear and one of the highest concentrations
of rare plants in Maine.
The land transfer -- expected to be complete by the end of the month
-- comes amid growing worries about the long-term future of Maine's
vast open lands. Nearly 15 percent of the state's total land mass has
been sold in the last three months, said Womack.
Maine is the most-heavily wooded state in the nation, with forests
blanketing 90 percent of its surface. And the patterns of ownership
of that land have been changing rapidly.
In October, Sappy Fine Paper North America announced it would sell
905,000 acres of Maine timberlands to Seattle-based Plum Creek Timber
Co.
In the same month, South Carolina-based Bowater Inc. said J.D. Irving
Ltd. of Canada agreed to pay $220 million for 1 million acres of
Maine land, primarily located in the north.
And MacDonald Investment Group of Alabama announced in November its
intent to buy 656,000 acres of Bowater land in northern Maine.
These woodland buyers say they have no plans to develop their
acquisitions or to bar sportsmen from using their forests. They'll
be used for traditional purposes, such as wood harvesting.
Maine has been fortunate in that respect thus far, said Bruce
Cadmium, communications director for The Nature Conservancy.
But the conservancy wants that kind of protection "nailed to the
land" it owns, because there is no guarantee that private owners of
environmentally important forests will always eschew development,
Cadmium said.
"We've been fortunate, but we can't always count on that," he said.
A range of political, environmental and civic leaders on Tuesday
praised The Nature Conservancy's announcement.
"It ranks right up there with the most significant conservation
accomplishments in the nation in recent years," said Peter
Dichasium, advocacy director for the Natural Resources Council of
Maine. "The St. John is still a wild place. It's one of the last
great, remote river experiences in North America."
George Smith, executive director of the Sportsman's Alliance of
Maine, praised the conservation group's decision to keep the area
open to hunters and fishermen. It's an example, Smith said, of how
the north woods can be protected for traditional uses such as
recreation without federal government intervention.
"It's another block in securing our heritage," Smith said. "This
is very important for sportsmen because it is a step away from
turning the north woods into a national park."
Jonathan Carter, director of the Forest Ecology Network, also
praised the land purchase as protecting some of the "most remote land
in the lower 48 states." He said he sees the purchase as a first step
in creating a national wilderness preserve in northern Maine.
The conservancy has taken no position on the preserve proposal, and
Tuesday's land purchase has no relationship to that initiative,
Cadmium said.
Gov. Angus King called the announcement "fantastic" and in keeping
with the state's goal of protecting environmentally significant areas
near rivers and lakes.
The Nature Conservancy purchase is about twice as large, in dollar
terms, as any other attempted by the conservation group nationally,
and is 15 times as expensive as any other land purchase it has
made in Maine.
The $35.1 million is the largest amount of money the Nature
Conservancy has spent on a single land deal anywhere in the world,
Womack said. It is almost twice as big as the previous record, an $18
million purchase of 500 square miles of land in New Mexico. The
group's largest previous purchase in Maine was its 1989 acquisition
of 315 acres around Goosefoot Brook for $2.7 million.
Repaying the loan with interest will require "an absolutely
unprecedented fund-raising effort," Womack said. He said such loans
normally have a two-year repayment deadline but he hopes to win an
extension.
"When we asked ourselves how we can afford this, we then asked
ourselves, 'How can we afford not to?' " Wommack said.
The group will prepare a conservation plan for the area and has
already hired a firm to manage the acreage. All of the 185,000 acres
will remain open for hunting, fishing and other recreational uses,
the conservancy said.
Existing contracts for wood harvesting will be honored through
their expiration in late 1999, but the organization plans to complete
a comprehensive review of its new land before deciding whether new
harvesting agreements will be signed.
FOR MORE on Maine forests, see Press Herald Online:
www.portland.com
SALE HIGHLIGHTS
Price: $35.1 million. Money to be borrowed from the conservancy's
revolving land-purchase account and paid back. Deal to close by
year's end.
Location: Covers all or part of 12 unorganized townships straddling
Aroostook and Somerset counties along northwestern Maine's border
with Quebec.
Area: 286 square miles (about 185,000 acres), nearly 1 percent
of Maine's land mass.
Future: The conservancy's land will be open for hunting, fishing
and other outdoor recreation. To develop a long-term protection
plan, the conservancy will work with a statewide land trust, the
Maine Coast Heritage Trust, other conservation groups and timber
companies in the region.