BigWhore,
Do you even know the financial terms that Plum Creek got? A tax credit is much different than CASH. What were the terms of the tax credit???
You might want to do some of that learning on your own, before Buzz continues giving you an edjumacation.
First phase of ‘Legacy' project complete
By MICHAEL JAMISON of the Missoulian
KALISPELL - Nearly 130,000 acres of Plum Creek Timber Co. land changed hands Thursday, the first in what eventually will be the largest conservation land purchase in United States history.
Located west of Missoula - in the Fish Creek area of Mineral County - and east of Missoula - in the Potomac Valley -
the logged-over forest lands were
purchased with $150 million supplied by the Nature Conservancy and the Trust for Public Land.
The money, said TPL regional director Eric Love, came from a combination of foundation giving, private philanthropy, and a loan from the Nature Conservancy.
Eventually, the groups hope to repay that loan, perhaps with state money.
Both the Montana departments of Natural Resources and Conservation and Fish, Wildlife and Parks have expressed interest in some of the forestland, Love said.
The purchase includes more than
53,000 acres west of Missoula and some 76,000 acres east of town, including riparian areas, upland forests and grazing pasture. Chris Bryant, of the Nature Conservancy, called the Fish Creek area “one of the least developed valleys in western Montana.”
In fact, a primary reason for negotiating the sale is ongoing concern regarding residential development, as the timber company continues to sell forestland for homesites. Plum Creek now has its own real estate development division, and has been organized as a real estate investment trust since 1999.
Local communities have worried the transition from timber to neighborhoods could cut off public forest access, reduce recreational opportunities, increase taxpayer costs of providing urban services, and undermine the state's wood products industry.
Thursday's sale is the first of three “Montana Legacy” phases, which eventually seek to trade out 310,000 Plum Creek acres for $500 million.
About half of the purchase price is expected to be supplied by federal taxpayers, although no public dollars have been invested so far.
The first taxpayer money will be spent next year, Love said, to purchase 112,000 acres primarily in the Swan Valley and the Highway 12 corridor west of Lolo. The final phase, set to close at the end of 2010, involves 70,000 acres spread between the Swan and the Evaro area north of Missoula.
Eventually, Love said, the forests will be turned over to state, federal and private land managers, with up to 111,000 acres potentially coming into Montana ownership. Love admits
“there's definitely some restoration work that needs to be done” on the former logging lands[/B](could be one reason Buzz is so on board with this? future job?), but added the acres targeted are important not only for public recreation but also for habitat protection.
The purchase agreement allows for continued timber harvest by Plum Creek.
“This project will conserve these lands for Montana's future,” said Kat Imhoff, state director of the Nature Conservancy. “This effort is crucial for the preservation of timber harvesting, tourism and recreation - three important drivers of western Montana's economy.”
