[at-l] =?UTF-8?Q?Land=20For=20Sale=20On=20Baxter=20State=20Park?==?UTF-8?Q?=E2=80=99s=20Border?=

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This land is what you see beyond the Knife Edge from the AT sign on Katahdi=
n.
TJ

Land For Sale On Baxter Park=E2=80=99s Border
By Phyllis Austin, Maine Environmental News (<A HREF=3D"http://www.meepi.or=
g/">www.meepi.org</A>). 11/22/02
<A HREF=3D"http://www.jdirving.com/about.shtml";>Irving Woodlands LLC</A> is=
 looking for a buyer for its lands on the eastern
border of Baxter State Park, according to Chuck Gadzik, the Canadian-based
company=E2=80=99s operations manager for Maine. The possibility that the pa=
rk will
acquire the land appears virtually nil because of the cost and concern that
expanding the preserve would stir a hornet=E2=80=99s nest of opposition sim=
ilar to
that over the West Branch lands acquisition.

Irving wants to sell its land in Township 5, Range 8; T4, R8; T3, R8; and T=
2,
R8. The company owns all of T5, R8 and T3, R 8 and half of the other two
townships. Mead/Westvaco is the owner of the other half of T4, R8, and
Prentiss & Carlisle Inc. manages the other half of T2, R8 for various owner=
s.
Irving=E2=80=99s ownership totals approximately 75,000 acres in the four to=
wnships.

Gadzik declined to talk price. But parent company J. D. Irving Ltd. bought
one million acres, including the land bordering the park, from Bowater Inc.
in 1998 for $220 million, or $220 an acre. Baxter Park paid approximately
$200 an acre for the 3,315 acres it purchased on its southern border in 199=
8
and 1992.

The Irving lands for sale include extensive frontage along the East Branch =
of
the Penobscot River, including popular Grand Pitch and whitewater sections,
as well as the lower section of Wassataquoik Stream. It also contains remot=
e
Katahdin Lake, which to some people is Maine=E2=80=99s most beautiful lake,=
 and
several mountain peaks.
 Irving is the state=E2=80=99s largest landowner, with 1,550,000 acres. "We=
 have
identified those [four townships] as areas that are not really strategic to
our timber management and mills," said Gadzik on Nov. 20. There are other
Irving lands farther north that are "on the fence," in terms of Irving=E2=
=80=99s
interest in keeping them, and Gadzik said the company "would look at those"
to sell if an interested party came along, he said. Included in that list a=
re
townships bordering the state-owned Allagash Wilderness Waterway.

Lee Perry, chairman of the Baxter Park Authority and commissioner of the
Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, acknowledged contact by Irving
about the park=E2=80=99s potential interest in buying the lands. He indicat=
ed to
Gadzik that the park was not in a position to act now on a purchase
opportunity.

Gadzik and Irving Woodlands president Jim Irving Jr. met with Gov. Angus Ki=
ng
and Commissioner of Conservation Ron Lovaglio in June to discuss possible
purchase of the lands by the state. (Baxter Park, while owned by the state,
is independent of the state parks and lands system and is financially
self-sufficient.)

In a letter dated Aug. 6, Lovaglio responded to Jim Irving that the state h=
as
a "strong interest" in the four townships" because they "appear to have
interesting natural resource attributes and public recreation opportunities=
.
Additionally, I would like to explore what strategic conservation
opportunities may exist within your ownership along" the Allagash waterway,
the commissioner said. However, Lovagalio said it would take time and money
"to make the project successful. As with our other large projects, one of t=
he
resources is to bring in a partner," he wrote. "If we agree to move forward=
,
we can discuss in more detail the benefits a partner can bring to the proje=
ct
for both of us and whom that partner might be."

The state would need six months to develop a detailed proposal, Lovaglio
said. "We would work with our partner to identify potential funding sources
and flesh our project details," using the staff of DOC, the Department of
Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and Baxter State Park, he said. At least an
additional two years "would mostly likely be needed to get to a formal clos=
i
ng," Lovaglio said. "While I=E2=80=99m chagrined that our acquisition effor=
ts have
such long lead time, this time is necessary because of the number of
transactions we are involved in and the amount of land conservation that is
occurring in Maine." Gadzik, formerly head of the Maine Forest Service, kno=
ws
all too well that "the state moves on a slow track [on land transactions],
and it=E2=80=99s probable that a sale to the state is the least possible," =
he said.
Thus, Irving has let other parties know about its lands for sale. "Some oth=
er
people have expressed interest," he said. Gadzik indicated that those
unidentified parties are interested in the lands for values other than
timber.

Irving=E2=80=99s record is that of a company that buys, not sells, land. In=
 Maine,
the sale of the four townships would be the first time that Irving has put
land on the market, Gadzik said. "Our interest is not in removing lands fro=
m
our ownership but changing them" for more important tracts, Gadzik said. "W=
e
are always looking at what=E2=80=99s strategic to our timber management obj=
ectives.

Baxter Authority chairman Perry explained that the 204,733-acre wilderness
park is not pursuing a potential purchase at this time because of finances
and potential political issues. The park depends on various trust fund
interest earnings to support operations, and there is only $42,000 left in
the land acquisition fund following two purchases in the last decade. The
2,269 acres on the West Branch of the Penobscot River were acquired in 1998
from Bowater Inc. for $480,000. In 1992, the park purchased from Georgia
Pacific 1,046 acres around Togue Pond at the southern entrance to the park
for $200,000.

Another concern is whether expanding the park again would provoke a West
Branch lands-like controversy over drive-in access, hunting and trapping.
Lobbying by sportsmen kept the parcel out of the"wildlife sanctuary" area,
the protective designation that covers most of the park.
There=E2=80=99s a commercial sporting camp on Katahdin Lake in T 3, R4, Per=
ry noted,
and there have been difficulties recently with the owners, Al and Sue Coope=
r,
over access. The park allows the Coopers=E2=80=99 clients to use the park=
=E2=80=99s Roaring
Brook Road, a parking area at Avalanche Field and a park trail to reach the
footpath to the sporting camp. (The facility is on land leased from Irving.=
)
But that traditional way is not guaranteed to be available to a new owner,
Perry wrote the Coopers on July 23.

The Coopers have been trying to sell the business for several years and
contend that the lack of secure access has turned off would-be buyers. Ther=
e
is vehicle access to within a short distance of the sporting camp over an
Irving logging road, and Chuck Gadzik said he has told the Coopers that
Irving "doesn=E2=80=99t have an issue" with them using it to service the fa=
cility