CONCORD, N.H. – International Paper Co. wants to sell a huge swatch of land in northern New Hampshire that it acquired when it bought Champion International Corp. last year.

The 171,000 acres of forest stretches from Pittsburg to Stewartstown.

Last year the company said it was interested in selling a conservation easement on the land, which would have prevented development but allowed logging and recreation to continue. Now the company wants to sell the land outright.

A conservationist says the sale represents an opportunity – and a risk.

“It’s an unparalleled opportunity to protect our natural landscape in New Hampshire,” said Daryl Burtnett, state director of the Nature Conservancy.

“We need to make sure that whatever the outcome, we pay attention to what conservation scientists tell us about the best way to protect land so that it endures.”

The Stamford, Conn.-based company went into debt to make recent acquisitions and it needs to sell some assets to pay off that debt, company spokesman Lee Crawford said. Crawford, based in Augusta, Maine, is operations manager for International Paper’s Northeast region.

“After the acquisition of Champion, we did a strategic analysis of our needs. Any time you acquire a big company you have additional assets you don’t need,” he said.

Conservation groups already are contacting the company, he said.

“Our objective is to find a buyer who would like to see it continue as a working forest,” Crawford said. “But what the buyer ends up doing with it is up to them.”

He said the company hopes to sell the land within a year.

U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., said Tuesday he hopes to form a partnership of local, state and federal officials, along with private conservation organizations, to buy a conservation easement on the land.

He volunteered to lead the federal part of the group. He said he will invite Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, House Speaker Gene Chandler, the towns of Pittsburg, Stewartstown and Clarksville and county and state officials to join the group.

“It’s important that we as a state pull together and see what we can do to maintain the traditional uses of these lands,” he said. “A piece of property is only going to come across the table once in a hundred years and if you don’t act quickly and aggressively as the stewards of that property, as the stewards of the state, you’ll probably lose it forever.”

Gregg estimates it will cost between $15 million and $20 million to purchase the easement.

Jasen Stock, executive director of the New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association, said his group looks forward to working with Gregg to preserve logging operations on the land.

“These lands have historically played an integral part in the economy of New Hampshire,” he said in a written statement. “Whatever role [our organization] can play in helping to assure that the traditional use of this land base remains a part of its future is welcome.”