Nothing better shows how much Maine – and the world – has changed than the news of an environmental group stepping in to help a paper company with its cash flow. The deal between The Nature Conservancy and Great Northern Paper is historic because it changes the relationship between the two entities they represent and because it is the clearest signal yet of a regard for the Maine woods as something potentially more valuable than a producer of pulp.

Paper has supported Maine for more than a century and, in some fashion, will remain important for years into the future. But what else will come to dominate the northern half of Maine is not yet determined. The fear by many is that it will be a national park, with rules and exclusions that will restrict Maine families from enjoying the woods as they have for generations and prevent new woods-based businesses from developing. That is possible but in no sense inevitable.

The Katahdin Forest Project, as the deal announced Tuesday is called, includes 200,000 acres in a conservation easement, south and west of Baxter State Park and north to the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, and 41,000 purchased outright by TNC between Baxter and the Nahmakanta public lands. The $50 million agreement will continue traditional uses, including logging, on the land but preclude development. It will provide GNP with more money to stay in business but also invite many more ideas about developing recreational and tourist-based businesses in the region.

What that development should look like is largely up to the imaginations of the region’s entrepreneurs. The amount of public and publicly accessible land is extensive in or around Baxter. Certainly, the prevalence of hikers, campers and fishermen throughout the area this summer leaves no question that people from around the country would like to visit. The level and type of new amenities they find would determine how many more people come, who comes and, not to be crass about it, how much money they spend. Having both the demand for a product – a beautiful part of Maine – and a chance to shape how it is offered so that it is compatible with existing industry is a rare chance to transform an economy.

GNP and TNC show emphatically that the question for the region is not “park” or “no park.” There is much more and better opportunity than that, and this one venture should lead the way to many others.