NETrailhead.com, trailhead to Northern New England

The Nature Conservancy, the Forest Society of Maine and Appalachian Mountain Club have signed a Purchase and Sale Agreement with Plum Creek Timber Company to permanently preserve more than 340,000 acres in Maine’s North Woods, near Moosehead Lake. When Plum Creek Timber Company presented it’s land development proposal for Maine, it was met with resistance, including acts of “eco-terrorism“. The Plum Creek plan website puts it this way, “The plan for our lands attracted significant - and sometimes overwhelming - attention from those who value the Moosehead region and its remote character, natural resources and economic opportunities.” In March, 2006, the Nature Conservancy, the Forest Society of Maine and the Appalachian Mountain Club proposed a Conservation Framework which would have preserved 400,000 acres. The size difference between the March Conservation Framework proposal and the October Purchase and Sale Agreement seems to be exactly the difference between “attractively priced” conservation easements and the unattractively priced conservation easements. The website for the Plum Creek Timber Company land development proposal gives a summary of the changes from the original Plum Creek plan.