BANGOR, Maine (AP) – Conservationist Roxanne Quimby is buying 8,900 acres of land near Baxter State Park as part of a deal that will open up additional lands in the Millinocket region to hunters, snowmobilers and other sportsmen, state officials said.
The deal calls for Quimby to acquire a remote parcel known as the Valley Lands just east of Katahdin Lake that had been on the state’s wish list in recent years, the Bangor Daily News reported.
In turn, Quimby has given the state a two-year option to buy 5,000 acres that she owns closer to Millinocket in the southern part of a parcel known as the Sandy Stream property. The deal also grants a working forest easement with guaranteed public access to an additional 6,600 nearby acres located in portions of the Three Rivers and Mud Book sanctuaries owned by Quimby’s nonprofit foundation.
When the deal is completed, it will ensure wood supplies to local mills while allowing public access to popular recreational lands. It also appears to signal a thawing of relations between Quimby and groups that have criticized her for buying large tracts of the North Woods and then banning hunting, mechanized recreation and timber harvesting on those lands.
“What is wonderful here is the town of Millinocket, the state . . . Roxanne and local groups have all sat down and figured out what makes sense” for everybody, Karin Tilberg, a senior policy adviser to Gov. John Baldacci, told the newspaper. “This is a huge tribute to people working together and valuing everyone’s needs.”
The arrangement comes after months of closed negotiations between Quimby and Millinocket-area leaders, sportsmen’s groups, state officials and the Trust for Public Land.
Baldacci and other officials are expected to formally announce the agreement in Augusta on Tuesday.
Last spring, a previous arrangement unraveled that would have seen the state buy the 8,000-acre Wassataquoik Valley lands from Gardner Land Co. as part of a deal that added Katahdin Lake to Baxter State Park.
But the Gardner family rejected the state’s offer for the land. Tom Gardner said Friday his family agreed to the sale with Quimby because the $6.1 million sales price was right. The money, he said, will help keep him and his companies’ 150 forest products employees in business.
Quimby’s sale of the cosmetics business Burt’s Bees has enabled her to purchase tens of thousands of acres of rural lands in recent years, but her support for limited-use wilderness is highly unpopular in some circles. In this case, a compromise plan was worked out that balances her desire for wilderness protection with the economic and social needs of local residents, those involved said.
In a statement, Quimby praised Millinocket Town Manager Gene Conlogue and representatives of sporting groups for their willingness to compromise.
“What kept us all at the table was a shared commitment to this landscape,” Quimby said. “In the past, while we argued about whose vision was best, the land was changing hands and opportunities were passing us by. The reality of an unpredictable future brought us together to try and bring some predictability to a region in transition.”
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