Environmentalists, foresters, politicians and recreational guides, all of whom spent the past four years battling over the mammoth project, shared coffee and congratulations at a Blaine House reception held Monday afternoon.

Gov. John Baldacci, who had supported the project both as a congressman and as head of the state, called the deal "a momentous accomplishment."

The West Branch Project facilitates the sale of 47,000 acres in northwestern Maine to the state Department of Conservation - land that includes the headwaters of the St. John River, the shores of Baker and Seboomook lakes, and Pittston Farm, a historic logging camp that now serves as a home base for hikers, hunters and snowmobilers near the junction of the East and West branches of the Penobscot River.

The project also includes a 282,000-acre conservation easement that will allow logging but prohibit development. The easement will be held by the Forest Society of Maine.

"This is the largest contiguous block of land ever protected in the state of Maine, and one of the largest nationally," Hutchinson said Monday.

The agreement guarantees that the vast majority of the land will be managed jointly for forestry and recreation.

"This project is truly emblematic of the beliefs and passions of the people who live in [this] region," Hutchinson said. "Hundreds of jobs are sustained by this land."

People from the Moosehead region, including Greenville Town Manager John Simko and guides such as Alexandra Conover, added their accolades. Maine Audubon and the Natural Resources Council of Maine joined the chorus of supporters as did the Department of Inland, Fisheries and Wildlife and the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine.

The easement will preserve habitat by protecting the region from development, and access for traditional activities such as hunting, fishing and trapping is guaranteed in the easement.

The document also includes language about "sustainable forestry," though it does not require that the land be formally certified.

The details of the lengthy easement were controversial, as was the very idea of the project. Maine had never seen anything of this size. Some feared government intrusion, and some cheered a project that was seen as an alternative to the national park being proposed for the region.

On Monday, Jym St. Pierre of RESTORE: The North Woods, which is advocating for the park, said he disagreed with people who feared the deal would preclude a park. He called the West Branch Project a means of partial and temporary protection. "This is not the end of the game," he said.

At countless meetings, St. Pierre was among those who questioned the project, and he believes that the scrutiny improved the end result.

But as he pointed out throughout the debate, the $35 million project relied on an unprecedented amount of public funding. Though St. Pierre doesn't oppose the project, the question of whether the public was "getting its money's worth" out of the deal still has not been answered, he said Monday.

Department of Conservation staff members have said previously that the state was not experienced in negotiating a deal of this scale and complexity, and that some mistakes were made and lessons learned along the way. Many new policies grew out of the West Branch negotiations, Karin Tilberg, deputy commissioner of the DOC, said Monday.

"Everything is different than it was four years ago," St. Pierre agreed.

Whether the West Branch will pave the way for more large working-forest easements remains to be seen.

In total, the project will have cost four years and $35 million, with a majority of the funds - just under $20 million - coming from the federal Forest Legacy Program, which gives grants to projects that conserve working forests.

Maine's congressional delegation has supported the project and advocated for federal funding in Washington. All sent their congratulations Monday.

The state Land for Maine's Future fund contributed an additional $1 million after a somewhat controversial vote. To ease concerns that public funds were being contributed to an agreement being made behind closed doors, the state agreed that LMF money would be used only for the purchase of state lands, not the broader conservation easement.

Over the past year, the Forest Society of Maine also has raised more than $11 million in private funds, with about $3 million left to go, to fully fund the purchase, the easement and a substantial endowment for the management of the West Branch lands.

"All our efforts will amount to nothing if we fail to care for and protect this valuable resource," said Sherry Huber, chairwoman of the Society's Capital Campaign Committee.

But along with completing the campaign, the Forest Society of Maine is already looking to its next effort. Originally, the West Branch project was to have a phase two, a subsequent deal to protect property just east of the conserved lands, which would have doubled the project's size.

The phase two targeted lands from the old plan are still "in the mix," but the West Branch project eventually could grow even larger than Hutchinson had dreamed, he said Monday.

"Our understanding of what's needed has expanded," Hutchinson said. "We're looking at the entire region ... and beyond."
"This content originally appeared as a copyrighted article in the Tuesday, January 06, 2004 edition of the Bangor Daily NEWS and is used here with permission."