Easements granted on 4 northern lakes

AUGUSTA – Great Northern Energy LLC has granted the state a renewable conservation easement on 2,365 acres and 80 miles of shorefront on four lakes and ponds in northern Maine, officials announced Friday.

Under the easement, which carries no cost for the state, Great Northern Energy will give up the right to undertake commercial or residential development on shorefront areas it owns in Piscataquis County on Chesuncook and Ripogenus lakes and Brandy and Black ponds.

The easement, designed to protect shoreline areas within 250 feet of the high-water mark, is to remain in effect for the term of a 30-year Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license for the Ripogenus Project, which was renewed in 1996.

The state will manage recreational activity within the area covered by the easement.

Great Northern Energy, based in Millinocket, is an affiliate of Brascan Power, a wholly owned subsidiary of the multinational Brascan Corp. The Ripogenus Project includes the 29,270-acre Ripogenus impoundment, the Ripogenus Dam and McKay Station, which has three turbine units.

Maine Conservation Commissioner Ron Lovaglio said the Ripogenus Project easement “links to other projects creating a recreational corridor 65 miles wide stretching from the Canadian border to the Allagash Wilderness Waterway and Baxter State Park.”

“At the same time, Brascan’s investment in the hydro system means that the state will continue to benefit from a clean, renewable energy source,” Lovaglio said in a prepared statement.

Brascan Power President Richard Legault, in the joint statement, expressed satisfaction with the agreement.

“As proud members of this community, we are committed to the responsible stewardship of the lands that we have acquired,” he said.

Friday’s announcement came two days after the unveiling of what officials described as Maine’s largest public land agreement, covering 329,000 acres from Moosehead Lake to the headwaters of the St. John River and said to be worth close to $35 million.

More than 85 percent of the acreage will remain in private ownership, but a conservation easement will guarantee its use for recreation, sustainable forestry and ecological preservation, according to the Maine Conservation Department.

The remaining 47,000 acres will be purchased outright by the state of Maine.

“This is one of the great weeks in Maine conservation history,” Gov. Angus King said Friday.