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Katahdin Lake Land Swap Terms in Dispute Early On

January 19, 2010 - AUGUSTA -- A state wildlife biologist recommended three years ago that the attorney general investigate terms of the historic land swap that joined Katahdin Lake with Baxter State Park.

Biologist Joe Wiley suggested that the attorney general be consulted after the timber company that played a key role in the swap said it would cut wood in deer wintering areas, apparently in violation of the agreement.

On Thursday, responding to complaints raised by a Republican lawmaker and a lobbyist for Maine sportsmen, Gov. John Baldacci said he will meet with state lawyers to discuss possible penalties.

Documents released by the governor's office show the difficulty regulators had enforcing the land deal's protections for deer wintering habitat.

However, the state feels it has some enforcement leverage in the deal with Gardner Land Co. of Lincoln. That's because the agreement was backed by a legislative resolution, meaning the parties may have a legal obligation to cooperate.

In less formal agreements, "There is no regulatory fallback ," said Ken Elowe, director of the Bureau of Resource Management in the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

The land swap saw the state trade over 7,000 acres of public lands, where timber harvesting was active, in return for 6,000 acres surrounding Katahdin Lake, a long-sought target of conservationists.

The legislative resolution, approved in 2006, included a wildlife management agreement that would "remain in effect as long as the grantee (Gardner Land Co.) owns the lots."

The actual habitat-management agreement was signed on Dec. 13, 2006, by Tom Gardner, vice president of Gardner Land Co., and Elowe.

The agreement's objectives included protecting at least 50 percent of the primary softwood in each designated habitat area and actively managing these sites for deer habitat. The total area was 728 acres.

The agreement specified the restricted harvesting permitted in each habitat area, and described how habitat can be enhanced. The agreement was intended to last five years, and was renewable.

The company and the department were also to establish specific plans for the harvesting and management of each site. That apparently never happened.

Instead, within eight days, the company notified the state of its plans to harvest sensitive habitat.

In a letter dated Dec. 26, 2006, the state warned the company not to proceed:

"I would like to remind you that no harvesting will take place in the (habitat management areas) until a specific long-term plan is developed and approved for each," wrote Regional Wildlife Biologist Mark Caron, of the Enfield office of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

Gardner responded that the company would proceed with its harvesting plans.

"For your information, Gardner Land Company will be harvesting wood this winter," wrote Mark Brooks, a company forester. "It was understood that design, delineation, and implementation of the (habitat management areas) would not negatively impact the values of any tract as negotiated in the overall land exchange."

The two sides met shortly after the New Year to discuss boundaries referred to in the agreement, but nothing was decided.

On Jan. 22, 2007, Tom Gardner wrote a letter to Caron's boss, Eugene Dumont, wildlife management section supervisor at the department, citing language in the agreement specifying that the parties would "delineate the boundaries of the (habitat management areas) within six months."

Gardner said the company would not have agreed to give Inland Fisheries & Wildlife "the power to unilaterally designate boundaries after the agreement was signed."

Gardner concluded the letter by stating that his company would go ahead and harvest.

Two days later, Dumont e-mailed Wiley and other officials that "this is going to be a battle that may not be worth fighting."

He wrote that he had reached an agreement with Gardner about harvesting plans on the two lots in question, "in possible trade" for "more important deer wintering areas."

The discussions about swapping harvesting rights for protection of deer wintering area elsewhere did not prove successful, Elowe said.

"Those discussions went for a little while, and then didn't," he said.

Two days after the e-mail from Dumont, Wiley replied that he believed the legislative resolution authorizing the land transfer took precedence over the habitat management agreement.

"My interpretation is that Gardner cannot terminate the agreement without violating state law," he wrote on Jan. 26, 2007. "Perhaps we should get an opinion from the AG."

By ETHAN WILENSKY-LANFORD, Kennebec Journal January 17, 2010


Lakes: Katahdin Lake
Regions: Katahdin


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