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News and Updates
SURVIVING SCRUTINY
By Todd Benoit, Editorial Page Editor
Editorial in The Bangor Daily News
Among all the congratulatory speeches yesterday about the completion of
part of the West Branch land preservation project, there wasn't much talk
about the change in mindsets necesssary to complete the deal to protect
land stretching from the West Branch
of the Penobscot River to the Canadian border.
Most important, there was the change in attitude among local residents.
In the early days of the project -- it has been under way for nearly four
years -- a forum was held in Greenville to discuss land conservation.
Participants, including the commissioner of
conservation and a representative of the Forest Society of Maine, the
group behind the West Branch project, were peppered with criticism for
wanting to put land out of reach to local loggers and recreation enthusiasts.
Despite protests from the speakers that this
was not their intent, the audience was not convinced.
So, it seems surprising that years later, the town manager of Greenville,
an organizer of the lively forum, is quoted in a Forest Society press
release with nothing but high praise for the West Branch deal. "This
is a great day for Greenville, where nearly all
the businesses depend upon timber harvesting and recreational activities
enjoyed on the West Branch to survive," said John Simko, the town
manager. "Conservation of these lands will go far to protect the
economic and cultural interests of our community."
This conversion came about because groups such as the Forest Society showed
that preserving land for recreational uses can be compatible with continued
timber harvesting (this shouldn't be surprising because that is the current
situation in the north woods).
Now such deals are commonplace and often praised by local residents and
officials
.
The second, and not as complete, conversion came on the side of those
negotiating this deal, which includes the state purchase of 47,000 acres
of land surrounding Seboomook Lake, Baker Lake and the St. John River
headwater ponds. Early on , the Forest Society, the land's managers and
owner (one of which was reported to be Yale Univerity) fought to keep
every aspect of the deal secret, despite the fact that more than $20 million
in public funds have been devoted to it. It took the filing of numerous
Freedom of Information Act requests by Jym St. Pierre of RESTORE: The
North Woods before aspects of the massive deal became public. One of the
documents that became public was a scathing memo from an assistant attorney
general who wrote that the easement, among its many weaknesses, favored
the landowners' interest over those of the state, which at that time was
going to hold the easement.
The positive fallout from the memo was that the easement was
strengthened, such as by requiring a forest management plan for the next
30 years and making provisions for easement monitoring. However, the entire
deal was then restructured so that the easement would now be held by a
private entity, the Forest Society, and no longer subject to public scrutiny.
Many have pointed to the deal as a model of conservation, involving
public and private entities to preserve working forests, favored recreation
areas and important landscapes. If it is truly a model, there are important
lessons to be learned about sharing the details of such endeavors with
the public, especially if it is paying part of the bill. Such scrutiny
is not only necessary but beneficial.
Originally appeared in The Bangor Daily News
January 6, 2004
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