92M Acres of Adirondacks Sold

 
Officials at the conservancy, an international nonprofit environmental group, said the transaction struck a balance between protection of wild lands and the region’s economic interests. Not only will it maintain environmentally responsible logging operations, they said, but it will create the opportunity for moneymaking recreational uses in areas that have been closed to the public

The Nature Conservancy has sold 92,000 acres of forest in the Adirondacks to a Danish pension fund as part of a long-term strategy to protect the land from development. The pension fund, ATP, paid $32.8 million for the acreage. The fund will benefit from tax credits related to a planned New York State conservation easement on the land that prohibits development but allows recreation and logging under strict sustainable forestry standards. RMK Timberland Group will manage the land for the pension fund.

The land is part of 161,000 acres in the Adirondacks, including mountain peaks, lakes, ponds, rivers, streams and a commercial forest, that the Nature Conservancy bought in 2007 from the Finch Paper company for $110 million to prevent it from being subdivided and developed by builders of houses and resorts.

As part of the 2007 deal, the conservancy agreed to allow logging to continue to supply wood to the Finch Paper mill in Glens Falls, N.Y., a fixture in the region since the 1800s that employs about 800 people. The state conservation easement will allow leases to fishing and hunting clubs to continue and will afford new access to areas where the public will be able to climb mountains, ski, ride snowmobiles and participate in other recreational activities. Building will be prohibited.