Mainers who care about this state's future — and its past —ought to be excited by the Downeast Lakes Forestry Partnership. The founders of this ambitious undertaking are committed to raising $35 million to protect 348,000 acres of forestland, river frontage and lakes in Washington County now owned by Typhoon LLC.
What's exciting about this project is what it protects. While earlier mega deals focused on setting aside pristine and fragile habitat in remote forests, the Downeast Lakes project is an effort to preserve and defend a way of life. The deal would place a conservation easement prohibiting residential development on 312,000 acres of land stretching from the Canadian border in northeastern Washington County to the Penobscot and Hancock County lines. It would also include the purchase of 27,000 acres of forest around Grand Lake Stream and a conservation corridor along Spednic Lake and the St. Croix River. What's important to note, however, is that the vast majority of this land will remain a working forest, just as it has been for the past 200 years. The 27,000-acre woodlands will become a Community Forest, owned by the Downeast Lakes Land Trust and managed for timber production and public access. The land under easement will also be harvested using sustainable forestry practices and access for traditional recreational uses — such as hunting, fishing, trapping — are guaranteed. Amos Enos of the New England Forestry Foundation says that one thing that sets this project apart is its origin. It was first proposed by a group of about 30 Maine Guides who feared their livelihood was at risk as liquidation harvesters bought parcels of land, cleared the timber, and then subdivided the property for residential development. Others from the communities quickly joined the conservation effort because they, too, saw the threat to the place they call home. "It was designed to sustain a rural economy," Enos says of the Downeast Lakes project. "And the people who live here." In the past, such easement have sparked some concern that they will shut down Maine's wood products industry, which is dependent on a ready source of affordable fiber. The truth is, however, that most of the easements purchased have been with property owners who see them as the best way to ensure ongoing timber harvesting. This deal is no different in that regard. Deborah C. Feck, the general manager of Domtar Industries (which employs more than 500 people at its Woodland Mill) has endorsed the plan as "the most realistic means to ensure long-term viability of the various local interests that depend on the resource" — the mill, the guides, sporting camps and recreation-based businesses. The Downeast Lakes project ought to be attractive to people from across the political spectrum because it involves only willing sellers and willing buyers. There's no eminent domain, no government land ownership. Yet at the same time, it will ensure that for those who love this beautiful part of Maine, there will be opportunities to live and work and play for many, many years to come. Raising the money needed to complete the deal will be hard — but it will be far easier than watching gates spring up as residential development devours this irreplaceable corner of Maine.
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