8,000-acre land deal in trouble Valley parcel lies east of Katahdin Lake

AUGUSTA – An 8,000-acre land deal that was key to adding Katahdin Lake to Baxter State Park is on the ropes because the property owners want more money than the state is offering.

Just when state lawmakers thought they had put last year’s Katahdin Lake controversy behind them, word trickled out Monday that part of that hard-fought agreement was on the verge of collapse.

Gardner Land Co., which gave the Katahdin Lake parcel to the state in a complicated series of land swaps, now is poised to reject a state offer to buy roughly 8,000 acres of prized forests in the Wassataquoik Valley just east of the lake.

Failure of the “Valley lands” sale will not affect the Katahdin Lake land, which already has been deeded to the state. But it likely will reopen wounds from last year’s political fight over the lake deal.

“We’ve told the Gardners that we are very disappointed,” Patrick McGowan, commissioner of the Department of Conservation, told members of a legislative committee that helped negotiate the Katahdin Lake deal last year.

The Gardner family’s rejection of the offer – estimated at $6 million – would be significant for two major reasons.

First of all, some lawmakers concerned about losing hunting and snowmobiling access near Katahdin Lake went along with the lake deal because the state pledged to keep the 8,000-acre “Valley lands” open to sportsmen and other traditional uses. That trade-off helped tip the balance after weeks of negotiations.

The second and perhaps more politically explosive reason is that Maine’s failure to close on the deal would allow other buyers to snatch up the Valley lands. That could lead to part of the land being developed or closed off.

“If this deal falls through, we have some other people that are interested,” Tom Gardner said Monday night. Gardner declined to name names.

In the deal negotiated last year, the Gardners gave 6,015 acres surrounding Katahdin Lake to the state in exchange for 21,000 acres of high-value timberland, including 7,000 acres of well-managed public lots.

The deal ran into political trouble right away because the Baxter State Park Authority intended to manage the 6,000-acre property as wilderness sanctuary off-limits to hunting and trapping. In the end, lawmakers split off 2,000 acres north of the lake and deeded it to the Bureau of Parks and Lands, which allows traditional uses.

To address sportsmen’s lingering concerns about loss of access, the Gardners agreed to give the state an option to buy the 8,000-acre Valley lands. The option also allows the state to purchase conservation easements on the land to protect public access if a sale is not possible.

The option for the state to buy the lands outright expires today, although both parties said they would continue negotiating. The state has several months to execute an option for a conservation easement, however.

McGowan pointed out that Maine policies generally prohibit the state from paying more than appraised value for land. The Valley lands were appraised for roughly $6 million, which is what the state offered to the Gardners, McGowan told the committee Monday.

Lawmakers weren’t thrilled on hearing news that the Gardners were unenthusiastic about the offer.

“This was a surprise to me and I’m sure it was to the department too,” said Sen. John Nutting, an Androscoggin County Democrat and co-chairman of the Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee.

Tom Gardner said the offer “wasn’t even close to where it needs to be.” Gardner said the family intends to keep negotiating with the state and that the sale is not entirely off the table. He was still talking with state officials late Monday.

But Gardner, who doesn’t hide his dislike for politics or the way things played out last year, said lawmakers who are grumbling about the situation “ought to be in my shoes trying to keep 175 people working.”

“They always think they are getting stiffed down there” in Augusta, Gardner said. “They ought to be out here in the business world trying to make a living in this state.”

One name floated Monday as a possible buyer for the Valley lands was Roxanne Quimby, the philanthropist and co-founder of Burt’s Bees.

Quimby is an unapologetic believer in wilderness protection who already purchased tens of thousands of acres in the area of the Valley lands. Quimby’s decision to prohibit hunting, trapping, mechanized recreation and timber harvesting has earned her a rough reputation in traditional circles in the North Woods.

Reached by phone Monday night, Bart DeWolf, the science director of Quimby’s nonprofit land conservation foundation, Elliotsville Plantation, said he had not heard about the Valley lands situation. DeWolf said he had not spoken with Quimby and could not say whether she would be interested in the property.

Bob Meyers, executive director of the Maine Snowmobile Association and a vocal critic of last year’s Katahdin Lake deal, did not seem surprised that the Valley lands deal was in trouble.

“You can’t unfry an egg,” Meyers said. “What’s done is done. You move on. We’ll just have to wait to see what happens.”