Baucus deal could buy 300,000 acres of Plum Creek lands

By CHRIS PETERSON/Hungry Horse News

Montana Sen. Max Baucus last week announced a plan that could protect thousands of acres of Plum Creek lands from development while still keeping it in the timber base.

The four-way deal would purchase land from Plum Creek through The Nature Conservancy and the Trust for Public Lands and then place it in ownership with the Forest Service or the State of Montana.

Baucus said the project has the potential to be the largest land conservation project in American history.

In the Swan Valley, for example, Plum Creek owns a checkerboard of lands that intersperse with state and federal lands. Recently, the company has made overtures about developing the lands in what it terms as "higher and better use."

That's Plum Creek speak for subdivisions and houses.

This deal hopes to buy the lands from the company in order to keep them as working timber lands and open to hunting and fishing.

"This is big," Baucus said in a prepared release. "Really big. We are talking about protecting thousands of acres of Montana forests for hunting and fishing. We're an outdoors people. We hunt, fish, take our kids snowmobiling or camping. I can't possibly define how important this project could be to Montana's outdoor heritage, our state's economy, and our way of life."

But the conservation groups still need to raise about $250 million to complete the deal and there's a host of other details to be worked out — namely how to keep the timber in the timber base.

If Plum Creek liquidates 300,000 acres, it would reduce its timber base in Montana by 25 percent. The company owns 1.2 million acres in Montana. As a real estate investment trust, its corporate structure has some tax loopholes that make selling land an attractive prospect to its shareholders, however.

Plum Creek's stock was up Tuesday and over $42 a share.

Still, Plum Creek spokeswoman Kathy Budinick said Tuesday that the deal could be ironed out in the coming months. Budinick said the company would likely work out a deal where it would still be able to harvest timber from the lands.

"We hope to maintain working forests on these lands," she said.

Under Plum Creek ownership, the company, in most cases, allowed public ownership.

In Montana, Plum Creek sold 89,000 acres of land to The Nature Conservancy as part of the Blackfoot Community Project. The Conservancy is now re-selling those lands to public and private buyers, with conservation agreements.