Company official defends Irving’s recent land sale

MILLINOCKET – A J.D. Irving Ltd. official said Wednesday that the company’s recent sale of more than 70,000 acres west of Baxter State Park was spurred by the land’s value beyond traditional timber activities.

In November, two Maine logging contractors inked separate deals with the Canadian company for 47,000 acres, while cosmetics maven Roxanne Quimby purchased the remaining 24,083 acres, which she intends to use in creating a federal park in Maine’s North Woods. Chuck Gadzik, manager of Irving’s Maine operations, helped complete the sales.

In addressing the Millinocket Rotary on Wednesday, Gadzik said the lumber and fuel company decided a year ago to pursue the sale because the land wasn’t “strategically linked” to the company’s wood flow and operation. The land also had attributes “above and beyond traditional timber values” and represented an asset that could be invested in other parts of the operation, he said.

After seven months of negotiations with the company, the state offered 60 percent of Irving’s asking price for the 70,000 acres, Gadzik said. That’s when the company decided to find private buyers, he said.

Gadzik acknowledged the local concerns generated by the sale to Quimby, but said the company anticipated such a response.

“The truth is, we could not win in terms of public opinion when we sold these lands,” Gadzik said during his brief presentation.

Millinocket Town Manager Gene Conlogue wasn’t shy in expressing that he believed the sale was “outrageous” and a “terrible mistake” that could hurt the forest products industry and other industries in the Katahdin region if Quimby decides to prevent access to loggers and snowmobilers.

“I care that you put this area’s economic base in jeopardy with this sale,” Conlogue said.

Gadzik responded by saying that the effects of the sale were not simple issues. He added that state leaders had strongly encouraged a sale to a party with a conservation interest. Conlogue expressed doubt with that concept.

Regardless of Quimby’s plans for her recent purchase, Irving has no official position on a proposed national park in the Maine woods, Gadzik said after the meeting.