JAY — Verso Paper Corp. has partnered with the Androscoggin Land Trust and the town to apply for funding to conserve land along the Androscoggin River in Franklin and Oxford counties for recreational uses.
An application submitted Monday to the state Land For Maine’s Future program proposes that Verso donate and sell a total of nearly 1,300 acres of land along the river to the Land Trust and Jay, according to a news release.
The proposed lands are within 3-mile radius of the Jay mill and in a variety of land parcels in both Jay and Canton. There is a significant amount of riverfront associated with the parcels, Verso spokeswoman Cherilee Budrick said.
Land for Maine’s Future has conserved more than 532,000 acres in Maine through nearly 300 separate projects. Androscoggin Land Trust has currently conserved 4,650 acres of land, including more than 10 miles of riverfront along the Androscoggin, according to the release.
“Verso owns land along the Androscoggin River that isn’t critical to our business, but has tremendous value to the community and recreation along the river,” Verso‘s Androscoggin Mill Manager Marc Connor stated. “Lending our support to this project is a perfect opportunity to give back to the community in a meaningful way. We’ve been working with Jonathan LaBonte with ALT and Ruth Cushman with the town of Jay, through Verso’s Community Engagement Forum to find ways to support development of business and recreational opportunities on the Androscoggin,” Connor said.
Jay selectmen voted to participate in the application on March 21 regarding about 30 acres that Verso is willing to donate to the town. The company already allows public use at French Falls Family Recreation Park in Jay.
If the state approves this application, this project will conserve local landscapes for wildlife habitat while ensuring public access and maintaining the land as a working forest, according to Verso’s release. It would provide additional access in downtown Jay and Livermore Falls to promote the Androscoggin River for seasonal recreation through paddle sports and fishing. And, it will advance local multi-use trail networks by connecting them into the downtown area of Jay and Livermore Falls, which will in turn support local businesses, the Verso release states.
“Partnerships are often easy to propose but difficult to implement. This project is a demonstration of how Verso and ALT found common values and focused on those to build this proposal,” LaBonte said in the release. “To ensure that land conservation also meant maintaining sustainable forestry in a forest products community, that it met community recreation goals, and that it could still achieve the corporate objectives of Verso were not simple tasks, but were achieved because there was a common sense of doing what was right for the local community.”
If approved, this project will mark the largest conservation project proposed by ALT since 1989 when it first protected land in Turner and Leeds now known as the Androscoggin Riverlands State Park.
“This generous gesture from Verso means that funds, if approved by LMF, could soon be accessed for further land preservation and could provide permanent access to the river and to a variety of recreational opportunities,” Jay Town Manager Ruth Cushman stated.
“I think it’s wonderful that Verso is working with ALT and the town of Jay for this. It opens up land for everyone’s use. It’s just super,” Canton Trail Riders ATV Club President Brian Jordan stated.
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