Maine deal to protect Tumbledown Mountain
Copyright © 2002 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
AUGUSTA — Gov. Angus S. King Jr. lauded a deal Monday to protect almost 12,000 acres of land on Tumbledown Mountain as a "fantastic project" that will keep one of Maine's premier hiking destinations "the gorgeous, extraordinary place that it is."
Staff photo by ANDY MOLLOYGov.-elect John Baldacci, right, and Gov. Angus King held a press conference at the State House in Augusta on Monday about the state's agreement to protect nearly 12,000 acres around Tumbledown Mountain in western Maine. click to enlarge
State officials and conservationists packed the governor's cabinet room for the public announcement of the $3.5 million deal, two years in the making. Under it, the state is acquiring 3,800 acres outright and a conservation easement on another 7,800.
King said the deal with Hancock Land Co. is possible because of the "extraordinary participation between the state government, the federal government and the people of Maine" and elsewhere who contributed to a fund-raising campaign.
The Bureau of Parks and Lands will manage the new state-owned land. It includes the summits of Tumbledown Mountain, and part of neighboring Little Jackson Mountain.
Tumbledown, with its glacier-scoured bald summits cradling a gemlike tarn, or alpine lake, is one of Maine's best known and most heavily used hiking destinations. Rock climbers scale cliffs on the south side. During the 1980s, peregrine falcons were reintroduced there.
The deal announced Monday is part of a larger land conservation project in the area that aims to knit together some 33,000 acres around Mt. Blue State Park in public ownership. Conservationists say that without it, the land is likely to be carved up and developed. So far, about 15,000 acres have been acquired or protected under conservation easements.
David Houghton, the New England Field Office director for the Trust for Public Land, which negotiated the deal, said conservation groups are now trying to acquire another 8,500 acres in the Tumbledown-Jackson from Mead-Westvaco.
Under the deal announced Monday, the state paid $2.5 million for the acreage it bought outright and another $1 million for the conservation easement. Of the total, about $1.15 million came from the Land for Maine's Future program and $2.1 million from the federal government's Forest Legacy program. Another $200,000 was raised by the Tumbledown Conservation Alliance, a coalition of five conservation organizations.
The conservation easement will guarantee public access, prohibit future development and require Hancock to manage the woods for sustainable timber production.
King, who leaves office in less than a month, noted that Tumbledown is among the 1.6 million acres protected during his eight years in office thanks to partnerships between the state and federal governments and conservation organizations such as The Trust for Public Land and the New England Forestry Foundation.
And he lauded Maine's congressional delegation for what he said were aggressive efforts to bring Forest Legacy money to Maine. So far the state has received about $25 million under the program.
One member of that delegation, 2nd District Congressman and Gov.-elect John Baldacci, who attended Monday's press conference, said King, an independent, "established the model" for land conservation and it is one he intend to follow during his Democratic administration.
Maine's future, said Baldacci, will be based on preserving key recreational and ecological lands while figuring out how to spur economic growth in other areas.
Matt Hancock, the president of Hancock Land Co., said the project is a "fabulous legacy for the people of Maine. As a timberland owner, I appreciate the important role conservation easements play in enabling landholders to achieve their stewardship goals and also meet the economic demands of their businesses. Our family is very pleased to have found an avenue that allowed us to do both."
Hancock's company, a 150-year-old, sixth-generation timberland company, owns about 50,000 acres, most in the Sebago Lake area.
Gwyn Sewall, the treasurer of the Tumbledown Conservation Alliance, said her group has raised $500,000 for land protection in the Mt. Blue area —$200,000 of it for the project announced Monday.
Donations were large and small. Sewall said members of one family kept giving monetary gifts in each others' names.
"One man sent in a check that had to be incredibly generous for him," she said.
He said in a note, 'It would be a personal tragedy if I could not climb Tumbledown,' " according to Sewall.
Joe Rankin — 474-9534, Ext. 341 jrankin@centralmaine.com