Protesters target Nature Conservancy meeting

MILLINOCKET – A conservation group that claims noble intentions in its management and future plans for 241,000 acres of woods – around 375 square miles – around Baxter State Park met with some resistance at its annual meeting Saturday. Picketers protested a perceived threat of limited access to a massive North Woods land area.

The Nature Conservancy, a Brunswick-based group, drew some 175 members to its weekend meeting. Four new trustees, former Gov. Angus King, Donald McNeil, James Dowe and Anne Hayden were appointed. Ralph “Bucky” Owen of Orono was elected chairman of the board.

U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud spoke at an evening banquet attended by conservancy members and leaseholders on the land in question.

Spectacular weather greeted the group. Puffy clouds and blue skies provided an enviable setting for an outdoor morning meeting followed by area field trips.

Normally a placid, social event, this year’s meeting took some heat as picketers from the local Fin and Feathers Club and others sported signs that claimed the Nature Conservancy was promoting “Land Cancer in Maine,” called the organization “The Enron of the Environment” and proclaimed “TNC: Land Grabber for the Feds.”

About 30 protesters held signs near the morning session, and 14 sign-holders stood for an hour down the road from the evening gathering at the East Branch Snow Rovers snowmobile club.

The protests were amicable and relatively low-key. Members of the Nature Conservancy talked with some protesters on their way to the evening banquet and meeting.

Jim Busque, vice president of the local Fin and Feathers Club, said the issue was a threat to access that stirred up members.

“We’re still battling access. I’m not convinced the Nature Conservancy are who they claim to be,” Busque said Saturday evening. He said the group “fronts” for other organizations and, despite its promise to respect access and other traditions, is quick to buy land and “sell it to the government.”

A spokesman for the Nature Conservancy rebutted Busque’s comments, though he said the organization frequently works with state and governmental offices and is up front about that fact.

Bruce Kidman questioned whether the group’s intent was to express concern over RESTORE: The North Woods, an organization that is promoting a national park in the North Woods area of the state. The organization is separate from the Nature Conservancy.

Yet some protesters claimed no confusion on one issue. Mary Adams of Garland spoke of an article in The Washington Post last spring that was critical of some alleged tax write-offs and other issues connected to the national Nature Conservancy organization.

The conservancy’s board of governors has taken action on the matter, according to Kidman. Some policies that appeared inappropriate have been amended.

The Nature Conservancy is not the enemy, according to Kidman. In the case of the Katahdin Forest Project, the three-pronged intent is to protect forests, ponds and livelihoods to the extent that the Nature Conservancy refinanced a failing paper company in the region.

To protect the 241,000 acres it had earmarked – 41,000 acres of prime lake country that it acquired outright and 200,000 acres on the west side of Baxter State Park – the Nature Conservancy provided low-cost, long-term financing to Great Northern Paper.

The Millinocket-based paper company in turn placed a conservation easement on the 200,000 acres bordering Baxter State Park. When the mill filed for bankruptcy last winter, the Nature Conservancy sought to extend the financing offer to the new owners and has succeeded.

The Nature Conservancy’s role in the Katahdin Forest Project ensures the public will have access to the property forever, said Kent Wommack, conservancy executive director.

He said traditional uses such as hunting, fishing and trapping would continue and that there would be responsible harvesting of forested areas.

“Any forestry done on these lands will be done in a truly sustainable way,” Wommack said.

U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud, at home in the area where he grew up and worked for decades, expressed support for the Nature Conservancy and termed the era “exciting times to be engaged in environmental issues.”

He praised a recent agreement between logging contractor H.C. Haynes and the Nature Conservancy to conserve nearly 10,000 acres and more than 12 miles along the Spring River in the West Branch of the Narraguagus River.

The property, known as the Spring River block, abuts the state’s Donnell Pond Unit and would create a 24,000-acre swath of conservation land in Hancock County.

The 10th largest nonprofit agency in the country, the Nature Conservancy was started in Maine by Rachael Carson in 1956. The national organization is represented in each state and in 30 other countries.