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		Nature Conservancy Magazine: Autumn 2006 Nature Conservancy Magazine Sale of the Century Up Close Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom Hunter, Angler, Conservationist The Stamp of Conservation Nature Stories Podcast Nature Landmarks Nature Books Nature Travel Nature Preserves Subscribe Previous Issues

Sale of the Century

Page 5

Wakefield Creek, Wisconsin © Jeff Richter Broad-wing hawk, Wild Rivers Legacy Forest Project, Wisconsin © Jeff Richter View slideshows of the forests of: Alabama Maine South Carolina Virginia Wisconsin Learn more about these conservation deals Alabama Arkansas Florida Georgia Louisiana Maine Mississippi North Carolina South Carolina Tennessee Virginia Wisconsin Forest Conservation From rainforests to pine woods to the boreal forests of the northern latitudes, forests blanket nearly one-third of Earth’s land mass. They harbor in their shady depths an astounding variety and abundance of life. Communities of people everywhere rely on forests for their livelihoods and survival. The Nature Conservancy and our Global Forest Partnership are working to conserve forests in sites across the US, Latin America, Asia Pacific and Africa.

While state-level support for conservation is growing, some corporations also are getting behind efforts to protect forests formerly managed for paper pulp. Plum Creek, for example, the timber company-turned-real estate investment trust, has found that not giving enough weight to environmental considerations has its costs.

In December 2004, the company unveiled a plan to develop two resorts, three campgrounds, nearly a thousand houses, and potentially a marina and golf course across 420,000 acres near Maine’s Moosehead Lake.

The project, the largest planned development in Maine’s history, has been front-page news since it was first announced. For many, the deal represents the beginning of the end for Maine’s vast, uninhabited northern forest, which covers more than a third of the state.

But the development faces a major obstacle: To move forward, Plum Creek needs the approval of Maine’s Land Use Regulation Commission, which oversees development in the state’s unorganized territories. Last year, it became clear that the plan, with its limited protection for lands outside the development, wasn’t going over well with the public or the commission. “The zoning plan we had was not a very popular thing,” says Jim Lehner, Plum Creek’s general manager for the Northeast.

The Conservancy saw a chance to save more than 400,000 acres of forests, lakes and ponds on the brink of being forever lost. “Plum Creek owned some real ecological gems that we had wanted to see conserved for some time,” says Michael Tetreault, director of the Conservancy’s Maine chapter. “Given the regulatory proceedings they faced, we felt this was a rare opportunity to try to make that happen.”

Plum Creek and the Conservancy negotiated a new plan. While the developed area shrank modestly (from 14,000 to 11,000 acres), under the new deal, 413,000 acres will be permanently protected, much of it through the Conservancy’s purchase of conservation easements. The land-use commission will vote on the revamped deal next year.

In other parts of the country, this kind of intervention to protect timberlands may not be possible, says Elliman of the Open Space Institute. “[The Conservancy] was able to structure this deal largely because in Maine, Plum Creek had to submit to a regulatory regime,” he says. “There are very few regulatory regimes out there.”

But there are other tools available for protecting U.S. forestlands. For instance, the 2007 farm bill, a $120 billion piece of legislation circling the Washington beltway, could make an enormous difference in the future of America’s forests.

“We have to be thinking about strategies that encourage private land-owners to keep those lands forested and to manage them for multiple uses like habitat and water quality for the long run,” says Bob Bendick, the Conservancy’s director for the U.S. Southern region. “We’re focused on the farm bill reauthorization because that is where the money could come from to make that happen.”
Adds Ginn: “Our No. 1 priority congressionally in the next two years is to get a strong farm bill. The legislation will determine how billions in federal forestry and agriculture dollars are spent over the next decade.”

Among the measures the Conservancy hopes to see included in the reauthorized bill are cost-share programs to encourage landowners to plant forests, restore native flora and fauna, and increase forested setbacks along water bodies; technical assistance to help landowners manage forests for wildlife or the long-term sustainability of the forests; and a reserve program that would pay farmers to return farmlands into forests.

“We know land acquisition alone can’t possibly do the whole job,” Bendick says. “But if there are incentives for good stewardship, maybe the majority of the land will end up being held by responsible landowners who will use it sustainably.”

Meanwhile, the Conservancy is already looking for the next big conservation opportunity. “We have a long way to go,” says Ginn, who is a strong proponent of large-scale protection efforts. Having just brokered the Conservancy’s largest-ever conservation deal, he is ready for more. “We’ve made progress, but that’s still less than 10 percent of what’s at risk out there.” 

COLIN WOODARD contributes to The Christian Science Monitor and The Chronicle of Higher Education and is the author of The Lobster Coast: Rebels, Rusticators, and the Struggle for a Forgotten Frontier.

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