Deal Bars Development in Huge Tract of Maine Forest

Remote blocks of privately owned Maine forest, amounting to an area bigger than Rhode Island, will be protected from development in a multimillion-dollar deal that lets the owner continue harvesting trees.

The transaction is “the largest single conservation easement ever undertaken in the United States and, we believe, in the world,” Gov. Angus King said Wednesday.

The land is scattered through northern and western Maine in some of its most remote and wild regions.

It includes bald eagle nesting sites, one of Maine’s most productive peregrine falcon nesting areas, more than 2,000 miles of frontage along lakes and rivers, and habitat for dozens of rare and endangered species of plants and animals, King said.

A family that has been a major landowner in Maine since the 1840s is granting an option to the New England Forestry Foundation to purchase development rights on nearly 1,180 square miles. The entire state of Rhode Island covers 1,045 square miles.

In effect, the Pingree family is selling its right to develop the land for about $30 million. It retains ownership of the land and its trees, and will continue paying property taxes.

The private, nonprofit foundation, dedicated to protecting the region’s working forest, said private donations will be raised to pay for the easement. No public money is being sought.

The deal won’t affect public access to the land, which has traditionally been open to hunting, fishing and camping. Similar policies are followed by the paper companies that own huge areas of Maine forest.

But by keeping developers out, outdoors enthusiasts are assured continued access, said George Smith of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine.

The easement bars development that is not directly associated with forest management, said Steve Schley of Pingree Associates Inc. Loggers could, for example, build a sawmill while trees are being harvested.

Jym St. Pierre, Maine director of RESTORE: The North Woods, praised the Pingrees but said the deal falls far short of creating a public park, as his group desires.

“What we need is public wilderness. This is neither public nor wilderness,” St. Pierre said.

Hunters, anglers and some environmental groups hailed the deal as a major step toward protection of the 26 million-acre Northern Forest that stretches across northern New England.