The 754,673 acres covered by the proposed Pingree Family Forest Easement comprise an area larger than the entire state of Rhode Island, and is one of the finest examples of working forest to be found in all of New England. Much of the land, all within northern and western Maine, has been under management by the Pingree family for over 150 years, and is now recognized by many organizations and individuals in the conservation community for the continuing high quality of the forestry practiced there.

David Pingree originally purchased the Pingree lands in the 1840s in partnership with several other families. The land was purchased in the tradition of seafaring captains who dared not shoulder all the risk associated with a ship and its cargo. Instead, groups pooled their resources and purchased land to be held "in-common-and-undivided." This ownership form spread the risk of natural disaster, so that no single owner would be ruined by a disastrous fire or outbreak of insect or disease. Around the turn of the century, some of the traditional family ownerships were sold to corporations who used the land to supply lumber and paper mills. The Pingree family chose to maintain its ownership, and became "in-common-and-undivided" partners with these corporations. Over time, the family's conservative approach to forest management began to conflict with corporate objectives, and they decided to consolidate their ownership into wholly owned blocks of land. From over two million acres of joint ownership, there emerged just less than one million acres owned outright.

In 1964, the family formed the Seven Islands Land Company to manage its land holdings in Maine. Seven Islands has continued the family's tradition of conservative forest management, and is now recognized as a leader in sustainable land management. In 1994, Seven Islands became the largest land manager in the northern hemisphere to be certified "well-managed" by Scientific Certification Systems under the guidelines of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

Well Managed Forests

"What Seven Islands is really good at is managing the forest naturally."
--Bob Seymour, SCS Certifier and UMaine Professor of Silviculture

Throughout the history of the Pingree lands, management decisions have always had to favorably satisfy the constant question, "is it good for the land?" The managers have emphasized enduring values such as the health of the land, timber quality, and ecosystem integrity, rather than short-term economic returns. The conservative philosophy of the owners, their heavy investment in management planning, and their lack of perpetually wood-hungry mills has made it easier for the managers to focus on the long term integrity of the forest and its ownership.

The natural forest management of the Pingree lands is science-based, and attempts to reproduce the cycles of natural disturbances within the forest. Rather than cutting when the wood value is highest and then intensively replanting, Seven Islands plans its harvests to facilitate the best natural regeneration of the forest. Harvests occur over dispersed areas in the landscape rather than focusing intensively on a smaller area, and silvicultural applications are carefully tailored to site quality, species composition, wildlife implications, and market conditions. Once an area is harvested, Seven Islands relies exclusively on natural regeneration of the forest, which replicates the complex species mix representative of the region.

The Pingree Forest is located in a transitional zone between the Pine/Oak Forests to the south and the Northern Boreal Forests to the north. Just over half of the species grown and produced are softwoods, principally spruce and fir at the higher elevations and latitudes but also including white pine, hemlock, cedar, and tamarack. The hardwoods harvested on the property are predominantly hard and soft maples, but also include some birches, aspen, beech, and ash. In addition to supporting a high-quality stock of timber, the land supports a wide variety of other vegetation and wildlife, ranging from the endangered furbish lousewort to bald eagles and peregrine falcons to moose and bear.

During its harvests, Seven Islands is careful to protect special features of the land, such as wildlife trees and riparian zones. Areas of special interest are often completely protected, such as the 5000-acre old growth Big Reed Forest Reserve that the Pingree Family gifted to the Nature Conservancy. Seventy-five percent of the harvests on Pingree land are controlled by individual tree marking in the field by staff foresters, a practice that is unusual on a land holding of this size. During harvest, Seven Islands relies primarily on logging contractors who use high-tech, low-impact harvesting equipment, such as forwarders and the new Rottne 2000, a $600,000 selective harvester which can travel between two trees only six feet apart.

Seven Islands supports the local economy, choosing to sell its timber to regional, independent mills, of which many are family-owned. Many of the mill and harvesting contractor relationships go back several generations. In conjunction with the annual, sustainable management of the Pingree forest, over 350 people are employed in forest management, harvesting, transportation, and road construction and maintenance.

Green Certification

The Seven Islands Land Company has focused on managing the forests "naturally" since long before people were concerned about the destruction of the rainforest, the heavy cutting in the Pacific Northwest, or the loss of habitat for the spotted owl. As critical attention to timber harvesting practices has grown throughout the world, the management at Seven Islands became progressively frustrated with the public perception that all forest management practices were environmentally unsound. Seven Islands wanted to distinguish their practices from others in the eyes of the public, but had no practical way to do so until they heard about the Scientific Certification Systems (SCS)'s Forest Conservation Program.

There were several reasons beyond public recognition that Seven Islands chose to hire SCS to evaluate its forest management practices. There was a potential for a market premium that would be paid for green certified wood, as well as niche markets that would be interested in certain green certified products. It would be good for the public image of Seven Islands and have a positive impact on the company's personnel. It was hoped that a careful external audit would provide some regulatory relief from the government, and at the very least, the process would provide a helpful internal evaluation of Seven Islands' silvicultural practices.

SCS performed an in-depth evaluation of Seven Islands in 1993, paying close attention to 1) the sustainability of the forest resource, 2) maintenance of the health of the ecosystem, and 3) community benefits and financial considerations. Seven Islands scored high in each area and was accordingly certified as a "Well-Managed Forest" in 1994. In the time since the certification was awarded, Seven Islands has seen little or no market premium for its products and no regulatory relief. However, the company has benefited greatly from the positive public image and recognition for its good forestry practices, as well as the feedback that came from the auditing team. With its certification, Seven Islands has demonstrated once again that it is committed to the future of the lands it manages and to the mills and contractors associated with those lands.

Recreational Use

The Pingree family has always allowed some private recreational use of their lands. With the construction of the road system now used in transporting logs out of the forest, access to the land has improved and recreational use has increased. Seven Islands provides for recreational use of the land in several ways. Several sporting camps and lodges are located on the Pingree lands, and a limited number of cabin sites are leased to individuals and groups.

The Pingree Family has joined with other private landowners in northern Maine to create the North Maine Woods (NMW) Program to manage recreational use of a 3.6 million-acre area. This program, which is now self-supporting through the minimal fees which are charged to visitors, provides a uniform set of rules and fees over the entire group of ownerships. As noted in its current five-year plan, the NMW program provides an excellent opportunity to integrate fish and wildlife management considerations into the management of public use of a large area of private land. NMW monitors use of the land, maintains campsites, provides maps and brochures to visitors, takes reservations, and offers emergency assistance. Annual visitor-days to the NMW area annually exceed 200,000.