Plum Creek says sale of 300,000 acres nears fruition (complete article from source)
Source: The Missoulian, by TRISTAN SCOTT
May 30, 2008
BONNER - Plum Creek Timber Co. says it is on the brink of selling about 300,000 acres of its woodsy Montana parcels for cherished public land use - such as hunting, hiking and fishing.
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., together with a timber company executive and representatives from a pair of conservation groups, announced a blueprint for the land deal Friday afternoon during a rain-soaked news conference on the banks of the Blackfoot River near here.
The lands, which ultimately would be owned by federal and state governments, also would be managed as “working forests” with sustainable timber harvests.
“We are on the verge of protecting 300,000 acres of land in our state . . . and accomplishing the largest land conservation project in American history,” Baucus said. “This will ensure that people who want access to public lands will have it.”
The transaction will involve the sale of a full quarter of the timber giant's 1.2 million acres of land in Montana, and comes with a $500 million price tag. But according to Baucus, the deal in progress is a highlight of the senator's career, and comes on the heels of another memorable achievement - the recently enacted farm bill.
Baucus, chairman of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, included a new Forest Conservation Bonding provision in the nation's farm bill that will provide $250 million for land conservation programs. The provision allows for the sale of federal tax-credit bonds to help finance land transactions and conservation opportunities like the Plum Creek deal.
In addition to the bonds, the deal in Montana will require $250 million in funding from other sources, such as state agencies (which will contribute about $100 million) and the two conservation groups - The Nature Conservancy and The Trust for Public Land, who will need to apply for the remaining balance through the U.S. Treasury. The $307 billion piece of legislation passed through the Senate on May 15.
Both conservation groups will “work hand-in-hand” with philanthropists and the state to match the federal dollars.
The parties will focus on large sections of private land abutting U.S. Forest Service parcels, Baucus said, adding that the transfer of the Plum Creek property to public ownership would mark “unprecedented new access” to lands.
Rick Holley, president and CEO of Plum Creek, said the deal will include lands in the Swan Valley, the Seeley Lake area and in Missoula County, but stressed that its finer points remain “a work in progress.”
Baucus took heat over his action on the farm bill, Holley said, but the tentative land agreement that grew out of the bill is so meaningful that it has already been named the “Legacy Project.”
Conservationists lauded the deal as a success for all Montanans who cherish their lands.
“This is Max's conservation legacy for the state of Montana,” said Eric Love, The Trust for Public Land's Northern Rockies Director.
“Because of what starts here today, we will continue to be the last best place, with more emphasis on the best than on the last,” Baucus said.
In Montana, Plum Creek sold 89,000 acres of land toThe Nature Conservancy as part of the Blackfoot Community Project. The Conservancy is now reselling those lands to public and private buyers, with conservation agreements.
Consolidation of these so-called checkerboarded private-public lands can lessen the costs and threat of wildfire to communities, while providing sustainable timber harvest that will provide jobs for communities, Holley said.
But congressional critics of the provision complained that the program's narrow criteria were met only in Montana. And while Baucus acknowledged that the provision appeared to be tailored for Montana, he also said it would be a model for other states seeking to conserve land.
“All of us have a moral obligation when we leave this place to leave it in as good of shape or better as when we got here,” Baucus said. “And that's what we're doing.”
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