USDA Forest
Service
Northeastern Area
Durham Field Office
271 Mast Road
Durham, NH 03824
(v) (603) 868-7600
(f) (603) 868-7604
(tdd) (603) 868-7603
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FY2004, First Quarter Update
Forest Legacy
Features of Interest
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Gathering
in the Golden State: Forest Legacy Program
(FLP) managers from across the country met in Sacramento,
California, on
October 20–21 2003. This annual meeting offers the
State and Federal program managers an opportunity to
expand their
understanding of ways to implement the Forest Legacy
Program. The meeting included a range of presentations
and featured
a field trip ending in the Sierra Mountains, illustrating
the different forms of ownership threats to California
forests.
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FY2004 Forest Legacy Appropriations
Passed: President Bush signed into law the
Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations
Act for FY2004 on November
10, 2003, from which the USDA Forest Service and the
Forest Legacy Program appropriations are assigned.
The act identified
41 Forest Legacy projects that will protect over 92,000
acres of important forest land from conversion to nonforest
uses,
as well as administration funds for a total of $71,473,000. This
total includes $64,473,000 of new funding and requires
the use of $7,000,000 in prior year funds to meet the
total FY2004
appropriations level.
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Famous
FLP Project Is Completed by Deadline: The
Forest Legacy Program’s most
famous project, the West Branch project in Maine, was
protected from conversion to nonforest uses forever
on December 22,
2003, with a package deal that includes a fee acquisition
by the State of Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands, and
a conservation easement held by the Forest Society
of Maine. The West Branch
project had to be completed by the January 31, 2004,
deadline or appropriations law stipulated that funds
would be turned
over to another branch of the Forest Service. (see related
article below)
Recently
Completed FLP Projects
Forest Legacy accomplishments reported through first
quarter of fiscal year 2004 make this a landmark year for
the program. In the first 3 months of FY2004, eight projects
in six Northeastern Area States totaling 506,226 acres were
protected, more than doubling the national total for the
previous 10 years!
Coastal Bay Key to Maryland Scenery
A 95-acre parcel
in Maryland’s Chincoteague Bay Forest Legacy
Area complements the protection of over 600 acres of
land in an area where several efforts are underway to maintain
its
scenic character. On October 6, 2003, landowner William
McCain accepted a bargain price of $78,000 for a conservation
easement
valued at $125,000. Mr. McCain will continue to manage
the land for wildlife habitat.
Minnesota’s Big Woods Project Get Bigger
The Big
Woods project in the Rice County–Big Woods Forest
Legacy Area in southern Minnesota added conservation
easement protection to two tracts. On October 7, 2003, Mr. Ralph
Underwager,
landowner of the 56-acre Cannon River Wilderness #1 tract,
accepted a bargain price of $75,000 for a conservation
easement valued at $124,000. Two days later, Mr. Howard Hong,
landowner
of the 79-acre Nerstrand Woods #3 tract, accepted a bargain
price of $100,000 for a conservation easement valued
at $153,400. These two parcels, which will help the county-wide
effort to
restore the Big Woods maple-basswood ecosystem, connect
existing protected lands of 3,100 acres.
New Hampshire Connecticut Lakes Project Is an Award Winner
Dignitaries,
officials, and citizens witnessed and celebrated the transfer
of ownership of 146,290 acres of New Hampshire’s
Connecticut Lakes Headwaters on October 10, 2003. The Trust
for Public Land, which had purchased the property from International
Paper, transferred the fee portion to the Lyme Timber Company,
a timberland and commercial real estate investment company,
and the conservation easement to the State of New Hampshire.
This project was the epitome of public involvement, synchronized
by a task force formed by then-Governor Jeanne Shaheen and
U.S. Senator Judd Gregg. The task force’s efforts were rewarded
not only with the lasting protection of this important forest,
but also the by the Wildlife Management Institute’s Touchstone
Award. The award recognizes exceptional professional
creativity, ingenuity, and tenacity in effecting a particular
program that
has notably advanced the cause or prospect of sound resource
management within the past several years.
In Indiana, There’s Gold in Them Thar Hills
Well, at least, there used to be. Evidence of past
mining activities and old placer dikes is all that remains
of the historic search for gold, diamonds, and other semi-precious
stones on the Hills of Gold property in Indiana. On December
5, 2003, the State of Indiana purchased a conservation easement
on 460 acres from landowners Al and Ida Meyer valued at $830,000,
of which $726,000 was provided by the Forest Legacy Program
to complete the transaction. The property, just 35 miles south
of downtown Indianapolis, contains many ecological communities,
including narrow bottomlands, palustrine wetlands, upland hardwoods,
shale bluff, and reverting fields that are now fully forested.
This actively managed forest will continue to provide forest
products, wildlife habitat, and educational opportunities.
West Branch Completed in Maine
If there was a project
name that anybody involved with the Forest Legacy Program would
know, it would be “West Branch.” Owing
to its extremely large size (just under half the size
of Rhode Island) and numerous economic, recreational, and ecological
values, this project has clearly become the most famous
Forest
Legacy project to date. Protection of the West Branch
project became final on December 22, 2003. The State of Maine
acquired
47,000 acres using $19,657,000 of Forest Legacy funds
to protect critical forest management and recreation opportunities
around
four lakes and ponds. As part of the total $31,800,000
package, a 282,000-acre conservation easement is held by the
Forest
Society of Maine, which will allow public access and
sustainable forest harvests.
Forests Buffering Important Maine Atlantic Salmon Habitat
Protected
One of the country’s most important spawning
and nursery habitats for the federally recognized endangered
Atlantic salmon, the
Machias River system, now has over 86 percent of its
forested shorelines protected from development. On December
23, 2003,
the State of Maine acquired 6,400 acres of forested land
in the river system and an additional 18,443-acre conservation
easement from The Nature Conservancy. The current landowner,
International Paper, will continue to manage the land
according
to a forest management plan approved by the State of
Maine using special forestry practices to protect these unique
habitats.
Largest Private Ownership in Connecticut Protected|
Connecticut’s
Great Mountain Forest is the core of over 14,000 acres of protected
forest. On December 23, 2003, the State
of Connecticut purchased a conservation easement on 5,383
acres of forest land for $4,700,000. In addition, the State also
purchased in fee 145 acres of forest critical to trail
and
recreation opportunities for $400,000. Not only is this
forest the largest private forest land ownership in Connecticut,
but
it has been used for educational field trips, scientific
research, and also houses a National Weather Service station,
all of
which will continue without the threat of development.
The Forest Legacy Program provided $3,909,000 to the acquisition
of the conservation easement and land.
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