Plum Creek land sells for $250 million
Two conservation groups on Tuesday announced the purchase of 111,740 acres of Plum Creek Timber Co. lands in Western Montana for $250 million.
The purchase is the second phase of the Montana Legacy Project, which ultimately will involve a total of 320,000 acres of Plum Creek lands being conveyed to state or federal agencies for a total price tag of $510 million.
The Nature Conservancy and The Trust for Public Land said the most recent closing involves lands in the Clearwater, Lolo, Rock Creek and Swan valleys that eventually will be conveyed to the U.S. Forest Service. The checkerboard lands in the Swan total 44,821 acres.
Money for the purchase came from provisions in the 2008 Farm Bill crafted by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.
"I am really pleased to support this landmark conservation effort that will benefit Montana's environment, our working forests and local communities," Baucus said in a prepared statement. Baucus was scheduled to attend a press conference in Missoula announcing the deal on Tuesday, but instead attended the signing of the federal stimulus bill with President Barack Obama in Denver.
"It is also serving as a model for other places in the nation that want to conserve forests in the face of huge pressures to convert them to other uses," Baucus said.
The goals of the Montana Legacy Project are to assure continued public access to Plum Creek lands, along with other traditional uses, including timber harvest.
"We're all enormously thankful for the enduring work of Senator Max Baucus in making this historic project possible," said Kat Imhoff, state director of The Nature Conservancy in Montana.
"With this sale, we are proud that the company has placed more than 860,000 acres of land in the country, including more than 600,000 acres in Montana, into permanent conservation," said Rick Holley, Plum Creek's president and chief executive officer.
The first phase of the Montana Legacy Project was announced last December. It involved the purchase of 130,000 acres of Plum Creek lands in the Fish Creek drainage northwest of Missoula and the Potomac area east of Missoula.
The third phase of the Montana Legacy Project - scheduled to close sometime in 2010 - will involve about 69,000 acres, including additional lands in the Swan and Clearwater drainages.
Imhoff said those lands potentially could go to the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, depending on the state's funding abilities. The Montana Legislature is deliberating a bill that would authorize bond sales to raise up to $21 million for the project.
A hearing on House Bill 14 was held in the House Natural Resources Committee on Jan. 26, attracting considerable support.
"We had a lot of testimony," Imhoff said. "It was really compelling to hear people's passion for the landscape … There's been tremendous support from the community in the Swan Valley."
But not everybody is ecstatic about the Montana Legacy Project. Flathead Valley resident Dave Skinner also testified at the hearing, criticizing the project for not being transparent enough and questioning the purchase prices for land with widely varying values.
"If this was supposed to be public, where was the public involvement?" Skinner asked Tuesday. "There really wasn't much at all."
Imhoff maintains that "a lot of public meetings' were held across Western Montana since the Montana Legacy Project's overall purchase agreement was announced at a press conference at Lone Pine State Park near Kalispell last June.
The Montana Legacy Project Web site lists 16 meetings held across the region, the last one in October in Bonner. Although the project was announced in Kalispell, no further public meetings on it have since been held in Flathead County.
Skinner said the public should have had greater influence in determining whether the lands are ultimately transferred to state or federal management and in knowing exactly what level of access will be maintained.
The purchase price on the second phase's 111,740 acres averages out at $2,237 per acre - an amount that Skinner considers widely excessive for some lands that recently have been logged and will not be productive again for decades.
But Imhoff said some of Plum Creek's lands in the Swan Valley were selling to private buyers for as much as $8,000 per acre while other lands that were purchased were valued as low as $400 per acre.
Imhoff said prices were arrived at through 'very long-term negotiations' carried out prior to last June's announcement of the overall purchase agreement. The purchases also required thorough appraisals, she said.
More information on the Montana Legacy Project is available online at:
http://www.montanaworkingforests.org
http://www.themontanalegacyproject.org
Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com