EXCHANGING LANDS

A land swap between an outspoken conservationist and a local landowner and logger revives an old model for land preservation in Maine. The deal, involving lands near Baxter State Park, changes both the tenor and context of land negotiations because each side was willing to look beyond its limited interest and, more importantly, willing to compromise. It is also significant that no money changed hands.

Under an agreement signed earlier this week, conservationist Roxanne Quimby swapped 14,000 acres of land she owned in T5R8 for about 10,000 acres in T4R8 owned by logger and landowner William Gardner. The parcels are on either side of the East Branch of the Penobscot River east of Baxter State Park. The deal satisfies Ms. Quimby’s preservation aims by keeping an old-growth forest safe from harvest while maintaining an unbroken wildlife corridor. It also ends Mr. Gardner’s efforts to build a contentious bridge across Wassatoaquoik Stream, which now flows out of Baxter State Park without any structures on it.

The swap also satisfies Mr. Gardner’s aims of continuing to harvest trees on land in the area so he can continue to employ 150 people. And it addressed local concerns. After she acquired the land from Irving Woodlands Inc., Ms. Quimby prohibited snowmobiles, ATVs and hunting on it. The prohibition threatened a sporting camp that relied on snowmobile traffic and would have closed a major snowmobile trail.

The deal shows that when not distracted by the chatter of interest groups, two strong-willed people can compromise. Ms. Quimby told Maine Environmental News that it was difficult to part with land she planned to preserve but that giving things up is what compromise is all about. Mr. Gardner said his heirs might be mad that he didn’t make a bundle subdividing the land, but his focus was on ensuring that his workers and subcontractors had land with trees to cut.

“We need to keep a land base to keep people working,” Mr. Gardner told the Internet news service to explain why he wanted to swap land not money for his parcel.

This challenges the notion that without vast sums of money, prime parcels will be lost to logging or development. This is a promising turn at a time when state and federal funds for land purchases are limited. Instead of simply offering money, the state could offer lower priority conservation lands it now owns in exchange for parcels that are more in need of protection.

The deal also highlights the need for flexibility, whether it is the state or a private group trying to acquire a parcel. There are already many examples of projects that combine land and wildlife conservation with timber harvesting. This deal shows that when those differing interests can’t be accommodated on one landowner’s property, working with a neighbor is a logical next step.

Decades before Ms. Quimby and Mr. Gardner came together, Percival Baxter patiently patched together the lands that would bear his name. In the park he set aside land for timber harvesting, snowmobiling and sporting camps.

How fitting that nearby landowners have turned to his model.