Land buy proposal raises questions West Branch Project changes irk panel

AUGUSTA – Members of a state land conservation board Tuesday complained about the lack of information available about the massive forest conservation effort called the West Branch Project.

The Land for Maine’s Future Board on Tuesday also approved funding for eight land conservation proposals, with a total acreage exceeding 12,000 acres. Three of the projects are located in Washington County; the other five are in southern Maine.

The West Branch Project, as originally proposed, aimed to place more than 650,000 acres of forestland under protection – primarily under conservation easements to be held by the state Department of Conservation.

The Land for Maine’s Future Board has committed $1 million in taxpayer dollars to the $35 million project.

However, the evolving plan, as described to members of the board Tuesday, differed greatly from the plan the board approved initially. A portion of the deal that was reached in early June would include the outright purchase of 47,000 acres of timberland north of Moosehead Lake, as well as a 282,000-acre easement that will be held by the private, nonprofit Forest Society of Maine, said society director Alan Hutchinson.

Several board members raised concerns that the project they voted to fund 18 months ago may have changed too much.

“It’s quite a different project from what we approved,” said Roger Milliken, a public member of the LMF board. “It’s not quite right to say, ‘We’ll move ahead like nothing has changed.'”

Of particular concern was the purchase of timberland the deal would require as currently described. State law says that LMF funds cannot go toward the purchase of working forest.

Ralph Knoll of the Department of Conservation assured board members that “creative” financing, directing the LMF funds to a more recreation-heavy portion of the property, would solve the problem.

Ron Lovaglio, commissioner of conservation, added that the shifts in the deal were necessary to reach an agreement with then-owner of the property, Yankee Forest LLC.

In the month since the latest part of the deal was negotiated, the property has been sold to another investment group about which no further information was available, Hutchinson said when pressed for details Tuesday.

“There’s something unnerving about the fact that we don’t know who we’re turning $1 million of public finds over to,” responded Jym St. Pierre of RESTORE: The North Woods, a private organization that supports the creation of a national park in northern Maine. St. Pierre said Tuesday he neither supports nor opposes the deal, but is concerned that Maine people are not receiving complete information about the West Branch Project.

Some board members agreed.

“At some point, we need to have a discussion of this project with all the details in front of us. … We’ve got to know what’s on the table,” Milliken said.

In other business, funding allocations for land conservation in northern Maine included acquisition of:

. 136 acres along Morang Cove in Lubec. The parcel includes shore frontage as well as meadow and is part of a larger effort to protect the Cobscook Bay area. The board approved the contribution of $130,000.

. 793 acres within the town of Dennysville. The parcel is the final portion of a larger project to protect lands along the Dennys River, including federally recognized Atlantic salmon habitat. In an agreement reached with local selectmen, the town will be allowed to continue to operate a small gravel pit on the site. The board approved a $166,599 contribution.

. 2,777 acres along Spednic Lake and the upper St. Croix River in Washington County. The parcel includes more than 49 miles of lake and river shorefront, as well as several islands. A final purchase agreement with the landowner has not yet been reached. The board Tuesday dedicated LMF funds totaling $1.4 million to the project, provided, however, that the final negotiated purchase price does not exceed the $2.5 million LMF has determined as its market value.