For years, Mainers have been hearing about “once-in-a-lifetime” conservation deals that would protect the state’s crown jewels. A deal announced this week to add land around Katahdin Lake to Baxter State Park actually lives up to such accolades.

The 6,000 acres, including the lake which offers stunning views of Mount Katahdin, was the last parcel that Gov. Percival Baxter intended to add to the park he created. He proclaimed the lake one of the most beautiful in Maine.

Famed Hudson River School artist Frederic Church painted the lake and mountain around 1850. Nearly 100 years later, one of the country’s first modern painters, Marsden Hartley, spent eight days in a cabin on the lake, experiencing a “spiritual reawakening” there, according to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Before he was president, Theodore Roosevelt camped at the lake, and Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas stayed at the sporting camp that is there today.

With the complex agreement announced this week, the views captured by the artists and appreciated by statesmen will be preserved forever. For that to happen, $14 million must be raised by July 1 from private donors to repay the Trust for Public Land. The California group has already spent $7.5 million to buy land that will be given to the Gardner Land Co. and it will spend another $5.5 million buying state-owned land that will also be given to the Lincoln company in exchange for the Katahdin Lake parcel. The Gardner family did not want money for the land, but instead wanted other parcels with harvestable timber so its employees could keep cutting trees and working in their mills.

While this is a reasonable request, it means the deal must be approved by lawmakers. Disposing of public lands requires two-thirds legislative approval, which should be forthcoming because giving up remote land to obtain such an important parcel makes sense. It also requires that the state buy other land in the same counties to make up for what was sold.

The Katahdin Lake parcel will likely be managed by Baxter State Park as wilderness, meaning hunting will not be allowed. This should not be an issue – Theodore Roosevelt wrote in his diary that it is not good hunting ground. Plus, the Department of Conservation has pledged that the new land will offer good hunting, which further complicates the agreement but should prompt sportsmen to support the project.

More than $3 million has already been raised from private donors. Federal dollars from the Forest Legacy Fund cannot be used because that money must be used to protect working forests. The state could press this issue with its congressional delegation by arguing that the land to be purchased with the money will be working forest. However, because Maine has gotten a disproportionate share of Forest Legacy money for other conservation projects, it cannot expect much support for this position. Money from Baxter State Park’s trust fund cannot be used because it would cut into resources used to manage the park. The park’s acquisition fund is nearly empty after two land purchases in the 1990s.

This project offers the opportunity to help fulfill Gov. Baxter’s vision. It is worthy of legislative approval and generous financial support from Maine residents and other donors.