Conservation groups buy major parcels
A coveted tract of land stretching from Moosehead Lake to Baxter State Park has been placed under permanent protection from development, the first step in a wide-ranging conservation agreement.
The Appalachian Mountain Club purchased the nearly 30,000-acre pristine parcel, which borders 20 miles of the Appalachian Trail, from Plum Creek Maine Timberlands LLC for $11.5 million, according to the Bangor Daily News. Also part of the negotiation was The Nature Conservancy's purchase of the 15,000-acre Moose River Landscape. With the deal, now more than 650,000 contiguous acres are protected between Moosehead Lake and the northernmost section of Baxter State Park. The easements will be held by the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands.
The purchase marks the first major milestone in a nearly 400,000-acre conservation agreement reached among the club, Plum Creek, The Nature Conservancy and the Forest Society of Maine, the paper reported. As part of its approval of Plum Creek's major housing and resort development planned near Moosehead Lake, the Land Use Regulatory Commission required Plum Creek to protect the land.
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