Buying Maine

Only nine days into his job as director of the state’s Bureau of Parks and Lands, Dave Soucy has already emerged as a voice of reason in the debate over land preservation and land sales in northern Maine. The debate warmed again last week when it was reported that Irving Woodlands had sold 71,000 acres of timberland adjacent to Baxter State Park to logging contractors cum developers and a conservation buyer.

Many blame the state, unfairly, for not buying the land, which is said to have sold for a record $800 an acre. Others worry about the intentions of the new buyers. They are right to worry, but as Mr. Soucy pointed out, it is too early to line up for or against specific buyers.

“It’s a big state and a big woods, and I believe there is room for all of us,” Mr. Soucy said at a Thursday meeting to discuss the land sale at Shin Pond. “You should be careful who you target as your enemies. They just might end up being your partners,” he wisely told the 75 people who came to the meeting. Many were ready to take aim at Roxanne Quimby, the owner of Burt’s Bees who severed her relationship with RESTORE: The North Woods six months ago because of the neg-ative comments aimed at that group that is working to create a 3.2 million- acre national park and preserve in northern Maine.

Local residents and sporting camp owners said their biggest fear is that a 24,000-acre parcel between Baxter and Shin Pond was said to have been purchased by Ms. Quimby. Ms. Quimby has been quietly buying up land in northern Maine, some believe as an attempt to lay the groundwork for a national park. Residents and those who use the land for recreation should worry more about the two other reported purchasers of a 47,000-acre parcel farther south. Both Herb Haynes and William Gardner have long records of purchasing parcels and subdividing them into smaller lots for development. This poses a much bigger threat, to recreation and forest health, than Ms. Quimby’s efforts to amass land. To date, she has bought 16,000 acres. None of them have been put off limits to recreational activities.

When it comes to putting land off limits to hunting, fishing, snowmobiling and other activities those at the Shin Pond meeting said are the lifeblood of northern Maine, nothing will accomplish that quicker than developing the land. Despite assurances from officials at the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission that prime parcels, such as the land around Katahdin Lake, will be hard to develop because of set-back requirements, it is only a matter of time before more camps spring up on the land reportedly sold to Mr. Haynes and Mr. Gardner.

What this most recent sale in a long string of land transactions that began in 1998 shows is that the state needs a more comprehensive plan for saving key parcels. Although well more than a million acres have been preserved, either through state or conservation group purchase or through easements, many groups are advocating for much more land to be set aside. Clearly, given the state’s financial condition, its purchasing vast swaths of land is out of the question. It is encouraging that state officials, including the commissioner of conservation, are making a list of places that most need protection. It is also heartening that these officials, prodded no doubt by Mr. Soucy, are eager to include local residents and those who recreate on the land in developing this list.

Much more will be achieved by working together to achieve a common goal than by fighting perceived enemies.