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The Plum Creek Timber Co. agreed today to sell 320,000 acres of land in western Montana to two conservation groups for $510 million, a deal made possible by a provision in the recently approved farm bill.
The Nature Conservancy and the Trust for Public Land say the purchase will allow them to maintain large tracts of forest land for productive timber management while preserving vital wildlife habitat and public access to pristine forests. The parcels, to be acquired in three phases through 2010, are adjacent to national forests and other public lands in the Blackfoot River and Swan valleys.
Eventually, the Plum Creek land will be controlled by state and federal agencies, with some forests managed for timber harvests. Some parcels will also be sold into private ownership but with conservation easements that will restrict subdivision and home development.
The transaction was made possible in part by forestry conservation tax credit bonds that Senate Finance Chairman Maxs Baucus (D-Mont.) included in the farm bill that Congress passed earlier this month. The bonds are expected to cover about half the deal's total cost. The state of Montana, private philanthropists and investors will likely foot the rest of the bill.
The bond provision was one of the more contentious items in the farm bill debate, as fiscal conservatives assailed the provision as emblematic of the multitude of earmarks tucked into the five-year law. Congress enacted the farm bill over President Bush's veto earlier this month.
"This project is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to protect these lands for our families and future generations," Baucus said in a statement. "It will keep jobs in Montana, help maintain our communities and our working forests, and preserve public access for hunting and fishing."
Eric Love, director of TPL's Rocky Mountain program, said the bond provision made the deal possible. "Before that, this project would have been a much heavier lift to make," Love said.
Plum Creek is the country's largest landowner, with 8 million acres in 18 states, including more than 1.2 million acres in Montana. In 1999, the company reorganized as a real estate investment trust, with plans to sell about 2 million acres nationwide.
Company spokeswoman Kathy Budinick said that there is no set amount for how many board-feet of timber will be generated, but part of the agreement calls for at least some of these lands to continue supplying Plum Creek mills with wood fiber for up to 15 years. Timber operations will be certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, Budinick added.
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