The West Branch project qualifies as landscape-scale. In fact, it is the largest conservation project ever undertaken in the state. Its scope is destined to affect the three largest watersheds in the state of Maine: those for the Kennebec, the Penobscot and the St. John rivers.

And someone who speaks landscape-scale fluently is Alan Hutchinson, Executive Director of the Forest Society of Maine (FSM), the organization that is orchestrating this multi-phased, complex deal that ultimately is destined to protect more than 650,000 acres of working forest.

And despite rumors that the likelihood of public funding is drastically diminished as the economy slows and the structure of the deal has shifted, Hutchinson is confident the project is on track, albeit curtailed at least for another year, to almost half of its original scope, or 329,000 acres.

"We have been assured by Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins that the $17.2 million from the Forest Legacy (U.S. Forest Service funding) will be forthcoming as approved and an additional $2.8 million will be approved in 2003," Hutchinson said during a visit to Greenville last week. The state will kick in $1 million, already set aside by LFMB, he added.

The remainder, projected to be $14 million and which includes "establishing endowments (to monitor and maintain the easements)" is FSM's job to raise privately, Hutchinson stated, noting "we are ahead of the curve" in the organization's capital campaign, which to date is unofficial. A kick-off is expected in the near future.

The West Branch project now has three phases. Phase one is an outright purchase of 47,000 acres in three separate parcels that include two miles on the shore of Moosehead Lake, Seboomook Lake, Canada Falls Lake, Third Roach Pond and Baker Lake.

Phase two is 282,000 acres that stretch from the Canadian Border to the west and meet the fee-purchase parcels, all of which will be protected by purchased conservation easements. A purchase and sales agreement was signed for phases one and two in early summer, with a closing date in December 31, 2003.

The remaining 330,000 acres that make up phase three will be addressed after the completion of the two initial phases, Hutchinson said.

Negotiating a comprehensive protection plan that would include all the existing "vested interests - cultural, ecological, recreational and industrial" – has been almost two years in the making, Hutchinson said - two years of "blood, sweat and tears." The public discussion became controversial, as environmental groups, among them RESTORE: The North Maine Woods, charged that working forest conservation easements (WFCE) would not do enough to protect the special ecological character of the land.

The negotiations kept moving up to a higher plane - "higher than we expected," Hutchinson explained, with ownership changes and multiple interests involved. The process galvanized the attorney general's office and the Land for Maine's Future Board (LFMB) and "public interest ramped up on what a conservation easement should look like," said the FSM director.

Sustainability of the forested features and enforcement measures are the critical and controversial components of working forest easements. The West Branch project is modeled after the Nicatous easement established two and a half years ago in Hancock County. Fears that a WFCE would not hold up over time have proved unfounded in this case, according to FSM's data.

Ownership and management has shifted since the agreement was made, with the new foresters well-briefed and actually carrying copies of the easement document for reference during harvest operations.

Owners of the 329,000 acres is Merriweather LLC, a corporation that functions "like a mutual fund" for a group of investors, according to Hutchinson. The remaining 330,000 acres belongs to Great Northwoods LLC. Both parcels have changed ownership in the last year but remain under the continuous management of Wagner Forest Management, Ltd.

When all is said and done, the conservation easements will be purchased and retained by FSM while the fee-purchase lands will be transferred to the state. The easement conditions will be monitored and enforced by dedicated FSM staff. Existing state legislation for public access on private lands covers liability for recreational activity within the easement area.

Not included in the project are leases currently held by non-forest-related business and individuals including Pittston Farm, Seboomook Campground and private camps. However, Pittston Farm, placed on the National Register of Historic Places just over a year ago, is precisely the sort of cultural and historical feature FSM wants to preserve, Hutchinson stated, pledging that his organization's resources will be brought to bear as Pittston Farm owners Ken and Mary Twitchell seek the means to purchase the 70 acres which comprise the farm and its grounds.

In April 2002, FSM acquired for protection 4,242 acres on Big Spencer Mountain, 233 acres of an old growth and rare plant site and six miles of frontage on Moosehead Lake, including the historic portage at Northeast Carry.
"This content originally appeared as a copyrighted article in the Moosehead Messenger and is used here with permission."