State signs deal to protect 84,000 acres

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December 30, 2008

By MICHAEL VIRTANEN The Press Republican Tue Dec 30, 2008, 11:29 AM EST

ALBANY (AP) — New York officials have signed conservation easements with a lumber company to protect more than 84,000 acres of timberlands in the northeastern Adirondacks from development.

The state paid $10.8 million last week to the Lyme Timber Co., of Hanover, N.H., that will provide some public-recreation access, as well as ongoing logging in the Sable Highlands that meets certified conservation standards.

Department of Environmental Conservation spokesman Yancey Roy said it followed through on a commitment the state made almost four years ago in January 2005.

“Also, an important part of the transaction is that it keeps an important timber operation going in the North Country.”

DOMTAR DEAL

This fall, the state bought 20,000 acres of adjacent timberlands, including 3,820-foot Lyon Mountain, from the Nature Conservancy for almost $10 million, opening it for public use. The nonprofit conservancy bought that land in 2005 from Canadian lumber company Domtar Industries, while also helping arrange the sale of the nearby land to Lyme.

That was part of the same multiparty deal negotiated under Gov. George Pataki, who led efforts to protect a million acres of open space across New York. That included several forest parcels in the Adirondacks, some purchased and added to the state Forest Preserve, where logging is banned, and others covered by easements.

SENSITIVE APPROACH

According to Lyme’s Peter Stein, their model is to use forest practices that allow for timber harvest while preserving forest ecosystem functions such as clean air and water, soil stabilization and recreation.

“It’s not as simple as cutting that’s equal to or less than biological growth,” he said.

“Our business model at Lyme is to make investments in forestland properties, where usually a nonprofit conservation group or public agency covers some of the values that are present on that property.”

Michael Carr, executive director of the Nature Conservancy’s Adirondack Chapter, praised the state for its efforts in protecting the property and the forest industry.

“The state continues its exemplary vision and leadership, bolstering the Adirondack Park’s impressive standing as a conservation model for the world,” Carr said in a press release.

“What’s more, the state has made another important investment in the forest-product industry and the future of the Adirondacks. Without the state’s conservation easement program, global market forces may have erased the timber industry from the Adirondack landscape.”

ACCESS

The conservation easement also includes access to nearly 30,000 acres that have been off limits to the public for decades, including Sugarloaf Mountain, the Norton and Plumadore Ranges and Barnes, Grass, Figure Eight and Fish Hole ponds.

In 2004, a deal was struck by the Pataki administration with International Paper for conservation easements on 257,000 acres of forest and wetlands in nine counties.

Under later conservation easements, logging by Lyme, which bought most of IP’s Adirondack holdings, was to continue through “sustainable forestry” practices, including selective harvesting and planting of trees.