Quimby, others tout Katahdin land deal

Millinocket-area representatives joined Gov. John Baldacci and conservationist Roxanne Quimby on Monday to celebrate a land deal that will open 11,500 acres in the Katahdin region to snowmobilers and other recreational users.

For the past several years, Quimby has often found herself at odds with sportsmen’s groups and Millinocket-area leaders over her decisions to prohibit hunting, mechanized recreation and logging on her North Woods properties.

But on Monday, Quimby gathered in Augusta with some of her former detractors to discuss a distinctive arrangement that will increase access to recreational land in the North Woods and ensure a continued fiber supply to local mills.

“Roxanne deserves a great deal of credit for bringing together groups with a very different vision than her own and getting all of us to roll up our sleeves and develop a solution that works,” said Millinocket Town Manager Gene Conlogue.

Under the terms of the deal, Maine has two years to raise $3 million to purchase from Quimby approximately 5,000 acres in T2 R8 WELS north of Millinocket Lake. Part of the money will also be used to secure a working forest easement with public recreational access on 6,647 acres in T3 R7 WELS.

The latter acreage is located in portions of the Three Rivers and Mud Brook sanctuaries owned by Quimby’s nonprofit foundation, Elliotsville Plantation Inc. The nonprofit Trust for Public Land was key to negotiating the deal and will hold the option while the state raises the money.

Quimby, in turn, is buying an 8,900-acre property east of Baxter State Park from the Gardner Land Co. for $6.1 million. The property will become part of Quimby’s Eliotsville Plantation and managed as limited-use wilderness.

The state had originally hoped to acquire that property, known as the Wassataquoik “Valley Lands,” as part of the controversial land swap that added Katahdin Lake to Baxter State Park. Legislators directed the state to attempt to buy the Valley Lands in order to address concerns about the loss of hunting, trapping and snowmobiling opportunities in the 4,000-plus acres around Katahdin Lake.

But the Gardners rejected the state’s initial offer on the property. In the months since, an ad hoc group of sportsmen and state and local officials have met with Quimby to negotiate an agreement that would address both sides’ concerns.

Baldacci said Monday he believes the deal worked out well for everyone. He praised the contributions of Conlogue and other local officials as well as the Trust for Public Land in reaching an agreement.

“It’s going to help in terms of economic development in the Katahdin region,” Baldacci said. “Snowmobiling, hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation are huge economic tools in the region. It gives them a lot more [access] within that region … and at the same time protects these natural resources closer to Katahdin Lake.”

The co-founder of Burt’s Bees, Quimby has held several months of closed-door meetings with Millinocket-area representatives and sportsmen’s groups in hopes of diffusing some of the tensions over her land purchases in the region. Quimby’s Elliotsville Plantation holds and manages roughly 90,000 acres.

“We all agreed and committed to finding out what we had in common and working from that beginning point,” Quimby said. “And as it worked out, we had a ton in common. It was an enjoyable year … and I’m looking forward to working together to make even bigger and bolder plans come true.”

Mal Leary of Capitol News Service contributed to this report.

Kevin Miller may be reached at kmiller@bangordailynews.net or 990-8250.