ࡱ> %` 6bjbj"x"x 4@@6FFFF<$r>=======$(?hA>m4m4m4>,>S:S:S:m4N=S:m4=S:S:S: :hF8S:=B>0r>S:B9BS:S:FB=X( "S:<)<x.>>I: r>m4m4m4m4d BB Post Star coverage - All articles accessed 9/17/08  HYPERLINK "http://www.poststar.com/articles/2008/02/15/news/local/13349950.txt" http://www.poststar.com/articles/2008/02/15/news/local/13349950.txt DEC, group reach deal By CHARLES FIEGL  HYPERLINK "mailto:cfiegl@poststar.com" cfiegl@poststar.com Friday, February 15, 2008 1:53 AM EST The state Department of Environmental Conservation and the Nature Conservancy reached an agreement Thursday to expand the state Forest Preserve, connect existing snowmobile trails and place nearly half of the 161,000 acres formerly owned by Finch, Pruyn & Co. under a conservation easement. The agreement could also mean the closing of roughly 20 hunting clubs on land that will eventually be turned into Forest Preserve. The deal creates other public recreational opportunities that could benefit tourism. "It's not the best deal in the world," Newcomb Supervisor George Canon said, "but it's as good as can be under the circumstances." The Nature Conservancy purchased 161,000 acres from Finch Paper LLC for $110 million in June. The land conservation organization has spent the last several months meeting with towns, environmental groups and other interested parties to help plan the future of the lands. The woodland in the towns of Newcomb, Indian Lake, North Hudson, Long Lake and Minerva have been referred to as a "jewel" in the 6-million-acre Adirondack Park. The state and the Nature Conservancy outlined key components of the agreement: -- 57,699 acres will be added to the Forest Preserve to be kept "Forever Wild" and off-limits to development. Areas include Boreas Ponds, Essex Chain of Lakes, Hudson Gorge and Opalescent River headwaters. -- 73,627 acres will be left as working forest with conservation easements. These lands will be open for hiking, hunting, fishing and other outdoor recreation opportunities. The Nature Conservancy plans to sell lands to private forest products or investment companies, and keep them open for timber production. -- 1,098 acres will go toward public recreation facilities and community housing. -- More than half of hunting clubs on year-to-year leases will likely see no change. The Nature Conservancy has pledged to help relocate clubs that will be displaced. As a part of the land sale in June, the Nature Conservancy agreed to supply Finch Paper's mill in Glens Falls with timber fiber for up to 20 years. The paper company has options to renew or opt out of the agreement every five years. The Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks conducted its own analysis and called for at least 130,000 acres to be added as Forest Preserve. The association, however, did not take into consideration the agreement to supply timber fiber. "This deal will protect some of the most scenic private lands in the Adirondacks, lands of great environmental and recreational importance," said Neil Woodworth, executive director of the Adirondack Mountain Club. "They include the highest waterfall in the park, spectacular sections of the Hudson River Gorge and miles of wild rivers." The plan calls for public access at OK Slip Falls on the Hudson River and will include access to seven lakes and 15 ponds in the Essex Chain of lakes. "This plan will make the Hudson River the longest and most exciting whitewater rafting, canoeing and kayaking opportunity in the Northeast," Woodworth said.  HYPERLINK "http://www.poststar.com/articles/2008/02/14/news/latest/doc47b4a8624ab22829784018.txt" http://www.poststar.com/articles/2008/02/14/news/latest/doc47b4a8624ab22829784018.txt DEC and Nature Conservancy agree on plans to protect former Finch property By CHARLES FIEGL  HYPERLINK "mailto:cfiegl@poststar.com" cfiegl@poststar.com Thursday, February 14, 2008 3:46 PM EST The state Department of Environmental Conservation and the Adirondack chapter of The Nature Conservancy have agreed to conceptual plans to protect more than 134,000 acres of land formerly owned by Finch, Pruyn and Co. The state and land conservation organization announced the deal this afternoon. The Nature Conservancy purchased 161,000 acres from Finch Paper LLC for $110 million in June. The state is planning to add 57,699 acres as state Forest Preserve and place conservation easements on 73,627 acres of land. As a part of the sale, the conservancy agreed to supply Finch Papers mill in Glens Falls. The paper company can renew or opt out of the agreement every five years for up to 20 years. The Nature Conservancy has maintained that it has every intention to fulfill the agreement. The Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks conducted its own analysis and identified at least 130,000 acres as "being critically important additions" to the parks Forest Preserve. The associations analysis, however, did not take into consideration the Nature Conservancys agreement to supply timber fiber. The 161,000 acres of woodland are spread across six counties. There are roughly 70 lakes and ponds and 144 miles of rivers. The lands are located in Johnsburg, Chester, Stony Creek, Thurman, Warrensburg, Lake George, Lake Luzerne, Bolton and Queensbury in Warren County; Putnam, Dresden, Fort Ann and Whitehall in Washington County; Day, Edinburg, Providence, Greenfield, Saratoga and Moreau in Saratoga County; Newcomb, North Hudson and Minerva in Essex County; Long Lake, Indian Lake and Benson in Hamilton County; and Caroga, Bleecker and Mayfield in Fulton County. For more information on this story and details of the agreement see Fridays edition of The Post-Star.  HYPERLINK "http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/12/30/news/local/13205882.txt" http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/12/30/news/local/13205882.txt Finch sale tops stories of '07 By MAURY THOMPSON  HYPERLINK "mailto:thompson@poststar.com" thompson@poststar.com Sunday, December 30, 2007 8:18 AM EST  It was similar to buying Christmas presents on a credit card, but the transaction came six months early and had an enormous price tag. On June 18, The Nature Conservancy bought 161,000 acres of Adirondack forestland that Finch, Pruyn & Co. had owned since around the time of the Civil War. "We borrowed $110 million on just weeks' notice to seize this exceptional opportunity, and now are writing a new chapter in Adirondack history," The Nature Conservancy wrote in the organization's recently released annual report. The hastily arranged land sale cleared the way for Finch Pruyn to sell the rest of its assets, including its paper mill in Glens Falls, to a Connecticut-based holding company. Finch Paper, the Connecticut-based holding company, is a joint venture of Atlas Holdings and Blue Wolf Capital, two investment and real estate companies. Post-Star staff voted the sale of the forest land and paper mill as the top local story of 2007. The sale had huge significance in Glens Falls as well as the larger region. Finch Pruyn, founded in 1865, was the largest property taxpayer in Glens Falls, and one of the larger private employers in the region. The company had long been one of the larger private landowners in the Adirondacks, and the last major paper company in the region to sell off its forest land holdings. Undertaking the $110 million deal was important, said Michael Carr, executive director of The Nature Conservancy. In hopes of paying down the debt, Carr and his associates are touting the beauty and ecological significance of the forest land far and wide, including on national television. The CBS News program "Sunday Morning" is scheduled to air video of the property today, on the nature segment of its broadcast between 9 and 10:30 a.m. "I think that it will be brief, probably less than three minutes," Carr said Thursday in a telephone interview. CBS apparently became interested in the story because the Finch land purchase is the largest single conservation project in the United States this year, Carr said. "It's exciting for us because of the consciousness raising because of the exposure like that offers," he said. The group already has raised nearly $10 million toward the project. "Just since the 18th of June people have been wildly generous," Carr said. Also since June, The Nature Conservancy has had a team of scientists studying the ecological significance of the property, spread out in swaths among 31 towns in six counties. "We had some theories about what might be there," which scientists confirmed, Carr said. "One of the exciting things about the property are the elevational gradients. It's really from the floor of the Hudson River up to the highest summits in the High Peaks like Santanoni or Boreas Mountain," Carr said. "So if you start on top, we've been able to confirm some very rare neo-tropical birds like Bicknell's thrush living up above 3,500 feet, which is very exciting." Scientists identified rare plants such as hooded lady's tresses, carex michauxiana and pod grass in some of the lower areas -- "sort of undisturbed wetlands without invasive species in them," Carr said. At the same time, representatives of The Nature Conservancy have been meeting with government officials, recreational lease holders and others to discuss future ownership and use of the property. The organization recently submitted a preliminary plan to the state for consideration. The future of hunting camps, some of which date back three and four generations, has been a significant topic of public discussion. The plan addresses the topic of hunting camps, as well as possible community development initiatives such as development of affordable housing, establishing a connected system of snowmobile trails and possible use of a parcel of land in Newcomb to build housing for high school foreign exchange students, Carr said. He would not release a copy of the plan because the state Department of Environmental Conservation has not yet responded to it. "That's really what it is -- a first draft," he said. "It's really so preliminary that I don't think it would be helpful until the state of New York gets set on what some of its priorities are." Carr said he expects details of the plan will be worked out over the next three months in collaboration with the state and local communities. Likely, the state ultimately will purchase some of the property outright and buy development rights on other parcels, he said. At least some of the land will continue to be logged, as The Nature Conservancy has an agreement to continue supplying wood to the Finch Paper mill in Glens Falls for the next 20 years, Carr said. Richard Carota, president, chairman and chief executive officer of Finch Paper, had company spokesman John Brodt return a request for comment for this report. Carota was tied up completing end-of-the-year reports, said Brodt, of Behan Communications. The months since June have been busy for the mill's management and new owners, Brodt said. "All in all, everyone is excited about the future," he said. The new owners plan to spend about $80 million over the next five years to upgrade and add new equipment that will enable the mill to increase production, improve product quality and reduce energy costs, Brodt said. The improvements are part of a strategy to increase the share of higher-quality grades of printing paper the company sells. The new equipment will enable the mill to handle more cutting of rolls of paper into sheets. "We're not talking about the addition of new paper machines," Brodt said. The mill, which makes printing and writing paper, employs about 850 people. Management plans to add about 20 jobs over the next five years, Brodt said. Since buying the mill and other related property in June, Finch Paper has sold or offered for sale some property not directly connected with making paper. In August, the company sold its hydroelectric plant on the Hudson River to Brookfield Power.Under terms of the sale agreement, all of the facility's generated electricity will go to power the Glens Falls mill. In October the company placed a small office building at the corner of Warren Street and Oakland Avenue up for sale, along with six properties in Glens Falls, mostly vacant houses.  HYPERLINK "http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/12/28/news/columns/politics/doc47750444de34e880851081.txt" http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/12/28/news/columns/politics/doc47750444de34e880851081.txt Nature Conservancy floats proposal for former Finch lands By MAURY THOMPSON  HYPERLINK "mailto:thompson@poststar.com" thompson@poststar.com Friday, December 28, 2007 9:13 AM EST The Nature Conservancy has provided the state with a preliminary draft of a proposed plan for future ownership and use of 161,000 acres of forest land in the Adirondacks, Michael Carr, executive director of the conservation groups Adirondack chapter, said Thursday. The Nature Conservancy bought the land in six counties from Finch, Pruyn & Co. in June for $110 million. Carr said the plan addresses the topic of hunting camps, as well as possible community development initiatives such as affordable housing, a system of connected snowmobile trails and possible use of a parcel of land in Newcomb to build housing for high school foreign exchange students. He would not release a copy of the plan because the state Department of Environmental Conservation has not yet responded to it. "Thats really what it is -- a first draft," Carr said in a telephone interview. "Its really so preliminary that I dont think it would be helpful until the state of New York gets set on what some of its priorities are." Carr said he expects details of the plan will be worked out over the next three months in collaboration with the state and officials in affected towns, particularly Newcomb, Indian Lake, Minerva, North Hudson and Long Lake. Carr made a presentation to state Sen. Elizabeth Little, R-Queensbury, just before Thanksgiving, but it is unclear if that presentation was the plan Carr referred to, said Daniel Mac Entee, the senators spokesman. "At this point, weve not seen anything presented to us as a first draft," he said. At the recent meeting, Little discussed the importance of affordable housing and continuing logging long-term on portions of the property, Mac Entee said. The Nature Conservancy has an agreement to continue supplying wood to the Finch Paper mill in Glens Falls for 20 years. "She (Little) would like to see logging continue on at least some of those lands beyond the 20-year period," Mac Entee said. Read The Post-Star on Sunday for a report about unique features of the 161,000 acres and about The Nature Conservancys efforts to raise funds to pay off debt.  HYPERLINK "http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/12/16/opinion/editorials/13172168.txt" http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/12/16/opinion/editorials/13172168.txt End open season on hunting camps Sunday, December 16, 2007 1:24 AM EST It's curious that the people who say they want to preserve the character and history of the Adirondacks are so bent on destroying one of its most time-honored traditions. The tradition of hunting camps. Hunters are a vital part of the fabric of the Adirondacks. Yet once again, they are under pressure from outside forces seeking to restrict their activities. The latest assault on hunting involves the elimination of the hunting camp through the administrative destruction of places where camps have traditionally been allowed. Hunters are concerned that dozens of camps will be legislated out of existence by the recent purchase of 161,000 acres of timberland by The Nature Conservancy of former Finch Pruyn land in Newcomb and other Adirondack towns. If the land on which the camps are located is preserved through conservation easements, it's possible -- but not guaranteed -- that some camps could survive. But if The Nature Conservancy sells some of its land to the state and that land is placed under forest preserve, many camps could disappear. While land under a conservation easement can be leased to private hunting clubs, land in forest preserves can't be leased to them under current law because that land technically belongs to the general public. In past cases where land has been transferred from a conservation group to the state for forest preserve, the state has a track record of removing any sign of human existence, including rural access roads and hunting camps. So hunters have good reason to worry. Rural camps play a key role in the tradition and sport of hunting because hunting, by nature, is a wilderness activity. In a current poll of 890 hunters on  HYPERLINK "http://BigGameHunt.net" BigGameHunt.net asking them where they stay when they hunt, only 31 percent said "home." And only 6 percent said "hotels." The other 63 percent said they stay in tents and cabins and lodges close to the area where the game live. The establishment of rural areas far removed from the impact of population centers is exactly what wilderness preservationists had in mind when they set up the Adirondack preserve a century ago. Yet it's these same conservationists -- both in groups and inside the state -- whose actions are forcing hunters out of the Adirondacks by discouraging them from traveling to the hunting areas. Hunting is an activity that's shared and passed down through generations. It's often a bonding experience between parents and their children, and it's a way for friends to maintain friendships and share camaraderie. But hunters also play an important environmental and economic role as well. Wildlife biologists agree that hunters are necessary to help keep wildlife populations under control and to ensure that healthy populations of animals thrive from year to year. That's the reason the state very strictly manages animal populations through the issuance of hunting and animal management permits. In addition, many communities in economically depressed Adirondack communities rely on hunters to purchase supplies, fuel and food during their hunting trips, providing sales tax revenue. Hunting clubs also pay property tax on the land they lease, helping communities offset their tax burden. While some fear that allowing hunting camps to remain will spoil the wilderness experience, history has proven otherwise. There's no reason that existing camps can't be maintained, even if the land is turned over to forest preserve. First of all, we're talking about a very small number of camps in a very large area. Secondly, while some camps are not much more than oversized ice-fishing shanties, others are well-constructed and maintained, and do not spoil the wilderness. Plus, they can be a lifesaver if some lost hunter or hiker stumbles upon one in an emergency. Because of the tradition and the economic and ecological benefits of hunting camps, the state should grandfather existing camps into any transfer of land to forest preserve and require camps be maintained in conservation easements. Secondly, to ensure the camps don't proliferate in areas that are truly environmentally sensitive, the state should establish a standard for construction and regulate new camps. It's neither wise nor practical to run hunters out of the Adirondacks by destroying the culture of hunting camps. The state should work with hunting groups to ensure they don't become a victim of an overzealous and short-sighted effort to drive them away in the name of conservation. Local editorials represent the opinion of the Post-Star editorial board, which consists of Publisher Rona Rahlf, Editor Ken Tingley, Editorial Page Editor Mark Mahoney and citizen member Dan Gealt.  HYPERLINK "http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/12/12/news/local/13088002.txt" http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/12/12/news/local/13088002.txt Hunting for tradition Hunters, others worry Adirondacks land sale spells doom for clubs By CHARLES FIEGL,  HYPERLINK "mailto:cfiegl@poststar.com" cfiegl@poststar.com Wednesday, December 12, 2007 10:49 AM EST  HYPERLINK "http://www.poststar.com/story-extras/hunting/" Watch a series of videos to learn why "What goes on at camp, stays at camp."  HYPERLINK "http://www.poststar.com/shared-content/gallery/?galleryid=4&gallery_page=0&album_page=0&albumid=838&mediaid=6813" Click here to check out a photo gallery from the Polaris Mountain Club's hunting camp. Members of private hunting clubs say they worry the recent sale of Finch Paper land in Newcomb and other Adirondack towns to The Nature Conservancy will ultimately end the tradition and camaraderie that outdoor enthusiasts have enjoyed during hunting season. Hunters fear The Nature Conservancy and, eventually, the state will decide to remove hunting cabins that belong to some of the 150 private clubs that have leased land from the former Finch, Pruyn & Co. for decades. Michael Carr, executive director of The Nature Conservancy's Adirondack chapter, said his organization is working with hunters and other interested parties to address their concerns. But he warned that not everyone will be happy with the outcome. "There will be change," Carr said. "There will definitely be change, but we are investing huge amounts of institutional resources in getting it right." The conservation group, which in June paid Finch Paper Holdings LLC $110 million for 161,000 acres of timberlands, has been holding court with scientists, environmental groups, town supervisors, sportsmen and sportswomen, listening to what they think should be done with the land. "In some instances, those interests line up, and in other instances they conflict. When that happens, we are going to err on the side of science," Carr said. Expressing pessimism about the future of the camps, hunting groups point to the state Department of Environmental Conservation's role in the destruction of another group of hunting and fishing cabins in the northern Adirondacks in recent years. In that case, land owned by Champion International Paper Co. had been leased to the clubs for years, but was sold to a conservation group in 1998. The state eventually bought it as forest preserve and moved in to remove any sign of man  -- closing off old logging roads and destroying cabins where generations of sons were taught by their fathers to hunt. The scenario is familiar to hunters like Chester Supervisor Fred Monroe and resident Tom Magee, who are members of the Polaris Mountain Club in Newcomb. Their club has 40 members, owns 13 cabins and occupies 1,850 acres along the Hudson River, leased from Finch Pruyn since the 1960s. The club renewed a one-year lease with the Nature Conservancy in late September. But beyond that, the future is uncertain. Members believe environmentalists have their scopes zeroed in on the club's cabins. "River frontage in the Hudson River corridor is coveted by environmental groups and the state," Magee said. - - - The Finch lands have been highly prized by environmental groups for years. The Adirondack Council, an environmental advocacy group based in Essex County, in its "2020 VISION" volume one report from 1988 identified 300 acres of the paper company's lands in Newcomb as "Recommended Acquisitions of Exemplary Communities" and a good candidate for forest preserve. The lands the paper company owned are known for calcite crystals in the ground, which give the soil an alkaline quality absent from the acidic wetlands found throughout the Adirondacks. Carr said the alkaline soil allows a variety of vegetation to flourish. White spruce and white cedar, for instance, are uncommon in the park, but stands of these northern forest trees are located east of the Hudson River near the hamlet of Newcomb, according to the Adirondack Council. "We are excited for the possibility of conserving these lands, but we also believe there is still a future for the clubs," said John Sheehan, communications director for the Adirondack Council. Lands sold to the state as forest preserve cannot be leased to private clubs. They are open to the public. - - - Hunters can take comfort in knowing The Nature Conservancy is obligated by the terms of the land sale to provide the Glens Falls paper mill with fiber for the next 20 years. Trees cannot be harvested from forest preserve, but they can come from lands deeded with a conservation easement. And the conservancy said hunting camps are allowed on lands deeded with conservation easements. The Nature Conservancy will pay about $1.1 million in state property taxes on the land, a spokeswoman said. Private clubs currently lease about 131,000 acres and pay $6 to $8 per acre, which helps offset taxes. Carr pointed to the 2005 acquisition of 104,000 acres in Clinton and Franklin counties from the paper company Domtar Industries as a time when The Nature Conservancy and the state worked with private clubs. The Nature Conservancy bought 20,000 acres and the Lyme Timber Co. of Hanover, N.H., purchased the other 84,000 acres. A spokeswoman for The Nature Conservancy said the 20,000 acres will be transferred to the state as forest preserve next year, when the state is also expected to buy a conservation easement on the 84,000 acres that Lyme Timber owns. A handful of the camps were moved, Carr said, but most stayed put. However, he said, the Domtar lands were not as heavily leased as the Finch lands. Carr said some of the Finch Paper clubs might be moved or have their lot sizes reduced. - - - The Adirondack Park Local Government Review Board, which advocates to the Adirondack Park Agency for the interests of local residents, discussed the case of the Champion International Paper lands last week. Members were "disgusted seeing the camps destroyed," said Monroe, the board's executive director. An Environmental Conservation Department spokesman said the initial plan was to phase out all the leased hunting camps, but Gov. George Pataki's administration got involved. Several camps were still removed by the state. His group, Carr said, is "trying really hard to get it right." "Some clubs have to go," said John Collins, of the Residents Committee to Protect the Adirondacks in North Creek. "They can still hunt there, but they can't have their club." Some people, Collins said, feel the Hudson River gorge -- the Finch acreage along the Hudson -- should be forest preserve, Collins said. The Gooley Club in Newcomb is one of the oldest hunting clubs. It is located near Polaris Mountain Club on Nature Conservancy land along the river and should remain there, Collins said. "It would not be worthwhile (to remove the club) given the feelings and, for lack of a better term, bad press that would follow," he said. The DEC said it would not speculate on the future of the Finch Paper lands. - - - Hunting camps are important to the local economy and the Adirondack way of life, said Newcomb Supervisor George Canon. In Newcomb, there are 25 to 30 of the camps on Nature Conservancy land. Club members are well-known to local businesses, providing sales tax revenue on top of property tax revenue. "It's inevitable that some of them will become forest preserve, but how much is up in the air," Canon said. Overall, there are roughly 200 camps with a total assessed value of about $500,000 in the town, he said. The camps contribute thousands of dollars to the town's $3.4 million annual budget. John Paradis, a former woodlands manager for Finch Pryun, is a founding member of the 28-year-old Casey Brook Club. Paradis, also a member of the Review Board, said club members patrol the land reporting fires or trespassers. Those who have lost their way in the woods have at times found refuge in the rustic cabins, which is fine with Paradis. The Casey Brook Club keeps food in its cabin and, through the years, those finding it have left thank-you notes or money. "We do not keep them locked," he said. "It does no good to lock them."  HYPERLINK "http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/10/27/news/local/13035817.txt" http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/10/27/news/local/13035817.txt Finch Paper to sell buildings offers 'not essential' buildings for sale By MAURY THOMPSON,  HYPERLINK "mailto:thompson@poststar.com" thompson@poststar.com Saturday, October 27, 2007 2:26 AM EDT GLENS FALLS -- Finch Paper is hoping to sell a 19th-century building at the corner of Oakland Avenue and Warren Street that the company was using for offices. The company is asking $700,000 for the building, which was at one time the home of Hiram Krum, a prominent local building contractor in the mid-1800s, according to a real estate listing. The building is one of several properties Finch Paper is offering for sale because they are "not essential" to the company's main business of making paper, said John Brodt, a company spokesman. In all, there are seven properties, mostly vacant houses, with a combined total price tag of $1.18 million. The five houses and two vacant lots are properties that the company acquired over the years because they were located close to the mill or its warehouses, Brodt said. Finch Paper, a Connecticut-based holding company, bought the properties earlier this year as part its purchase of all of the assets of Finch, Pruyn & Co. Offices for the company's woodlands division were moved into the Krum building just last year, after a significant renovation. Those employees will now move back to the company's offices at the mill, Brodt said. Finch Paper still manages forestland that the company sold to The Nature Conservancy earlier this year. Besides the Krum House, Finch Paper is offering the following properties for sale, according to real estate listings. -- House at 47 Henry St., $60,000 -- House at 49 Henry St., $60,000 -- Lot at 26 Henry St., $22,000 -- Lot at 29 Henry St., $30,000 -- House at 20 Fredella Ave., $58,000 -- House at 146 Warren St., $250,000  HYPERLINK "http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/08/04/news/local/06b340ed2731650d8525732c007cb2cf.txt" http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/08/04/news/local/06b340ed2731650d8525732c007cb2cf.txt Conservancy takes it all in By MAURY THOMPSON  HYPERLINK "mailto:thompson@poststar.com" thompson@poststar.com Saturday, August 4, 2007 1:31 AM EDT One pass over OK Slip Falls and the Blue Ledges along the Hudson River in Indian Lake wasn't enough for Michael Carr, executive director of The Nature Conservancy. So he asked pilot Ben Eaby to circle the twin-engine plane around and do another fly-over of the scenic spot, which is contained in 161,000 acres of forest land The Nature Conservancy recently bought from Finch Paper. "We're going to make another run at it. ... Stand by," Carr said to reporters participating in the aerial tour. "Be-au-ti-ful," Carr gushed on the second pass. Views of river corridors are even more spectacular from the ground, Leonard Cronin, forest manager for Finch Paper, said in an interview later in the week. "You have some of the most pristine river corridors in the Adirondacks," said Cronin. Carr will be boasting about those river corridors and other features of the land, previously owned by Finch, Pruyn & Co. for more than a century, as he solicits contributions to pay off $110 million in debt -- the full purchase price of the property -- taken on by the conservancy. "Actually, on Friday was my first (donor) cultivation trip," he said. Seeing the property from the air is the only way to get a sense of the vast acreage spread out piecemeal among 31 towns and six counties, said Connie Prickett, a Nature Conservancy spokeswoman who went along on the tour. Carr provided running commentary on the nearly two-hour flight that included a peek at the 3,900-foot Snowy Mountain. Snowy Mountain and a few other peaks just under 4,000 feet in height on the property were a big part of what attracted The Nature Conservancy, Cronin said. The flight also included a pass over the Essex Chain of ponds. "We did a two-day (land) tour a few days ago, and every single pond in the chain had a loon -- at least one," Prickett said. Carr pointed out active logging going on in the vicinity of the ponds. Terms of the mid-June sale include an agreement The Nature Conservancy or any subsequent owners will continue to supply lumber to the Finch Paper mill in Glens Falls for 20 years. Revenues from logging and recreational leases will enable the conservancy to pay the property taxes on the land, Carr said. The tax aspect is important to Minerva Supervisor Michael McSweeney, who met recently with Carr and others to discuss the property. Finch Pruyn, and now The Nature Conservancy, has been among the larger property taxpayers in the town. It would be devastating if The Nature Conservancy, which is tax exempt, stopped paying taxes or turned the land over to some other tax exempt organization, he said. Carr said the group will continue to pay property taxes for the foreseeable future while a long-range plan for the property is developed. He and others are meeting with officials in each town to discuss the plan, Carr said. "We're large landowners, and we have a very big stake in their future," he said. In Newcomb, The Nature Conservancy will allow the town to test for a ground water source near an old house the organization acquired in the town as part of the land purchase, Newcomb Supervisor George Canon said later in the week. State Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward, R-Willsboro, said she has confidence in The Nature Conservancy, based on a joint project the organization took on with the town of Willsboro when she was that town's supervisor. "They are good partners; they work well with people," she said. In Long Lake, Carr said, town officials discussed the possibility of developing a small parcel of the Finch land for affordable housing. Sen. Elizabeth Little, R-Queensbury, who has made affordable housing in the Adirondacks a priority issue, said that idea appeals to her. The flight also provided a unique perspective of how nature rejuvenates itself, Carr said, pointing out a section of forest in Hamilton County where new growth was naturally sprouting up to replace tress damaged by Hurricane Floyd in 1999. "Blow down. It's pretty cool," he mused. Some of the features that make the land special, however, couldn't be seen from the air, like the half-dozen varieties of rare moss found on limestone outcroppings over the Hudson River. The moss thrives on calcium found naturally in the limestone, said Cronin, the Finch Paper forester. Finch continues to manage the land for The Nature Conservancy. The land also is home to migratory birds like the Bicknell's thrush and the rusty blackbird. Moose sightings have been common on the land for years, Cronin said. "It is simply a spectacular piece of the Adirondacks," said Jerry Jenkins, an ecologist with the Wildlife Conservation Society's Adirondack program. Jenkins, who has catalogued rare plant species on the property, said Finch Pruyn took remarkable care of the land. "These are not battered lands," he said. "These are about as good as private management is capable of doing it." Finch Pruyn was among the first private forest land owners in the country to hire its own forester, Howard Churchill in 1905, Cronin said. The company historically has followed a 20-year land rotation for harvesting logs. "So in any given year, we would harvest no more than 3 percent of the acreage," Cronin said. The property also contains the remnants of seven historic logging camps and an early 19th-century log cabin that was the first structure built in North Hudson, Cronin said.  HYPERLINK "http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/08/02/news/local/302b22dc201ae3698525732c00117081.txt" http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/08/02/news/local/302b22dc201ae3698525732c00117081.txt Finch Paper sells hydroelectric plant By MAURY THOMPSON thompson@poststar Friday, August 3, 2007 12:29 AM EDT GLENS FALLS * Finch Paper announced Thursday it has sold its hydroelectric plant on the Hudson River to Brookfield Power. Under terms of the sale agreement, all of the facilitys generated electricity will go to power the Glens Falls paper mill. The facility supplies about 30 percent of the mills power, with the rest coming from a cogeneration facility at the mill, according to a press release. The sale includes a portion of a dam on the Hudson River, as well as hydroelectric generating equipment located inside the mill. Selling the hydroelectric plant enables Finch to reduce debt and focus on its primary business of making paper, said company spokesman John Brodt. From Finchs perspective, paper making is our business, and power making is Brookfields business, he said. Brookfield owns three other hydroelectric facilities in the Glens Falls area at the Feeder Dam, Sherman Island and Spier Falls. Neither Brodt nor Grace Pollock, a spokeswoman for Brookfield, would disclose the sale price. Finch asked that the price be kept confidential, Pollock said. The hydroelectric facility had one employee who has been reassigned to another job at the mill, Brodt said. There is no other employment impact from the sale, he said. Finch Paper, owned by a Connecticut-based holding company, bought all of the assets of the former Finch, Pruyn & Co. in mid-June. Simultaneous with the closing of that purchase, Finch Paper sold 161,000 acres of company-owned forest land to The Nature Conservancy. Finch Paper continually reviews all of its assets, but at this time, the firm does not plan to sell any other parts of the operation, Brodt said Thursday. We dont foresee selling other assets at this time, he said.  HYPERLINK "http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/08/01/news/columns/politics/doc46b10163594a5680789774.txt" http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/08/01/news/columns/politics/doc46b10163594a5680789774.txt Timber firms court Finch Pruyn land deals, local pastor goes to Washington, health group set to salute community champions Wednesday, August 1, 2007 5:53 PM EDT * Five timber investment management organizations have submitted letters of interest in the former Finch, Pruyn & Co. lands recently acquired by The Nature Conservancy, said Michael Carr, the groups executive director. The Nature Conservancy is meeting with local government officials and other pertinent people as the group develops a long-range plan for the 161,000 acres of forest land, most of which is located in the Adirondack Park. Carr, during a fly over of the property with reporters on Wednesday, said he is just starting to raise contributions to pay off $110 million in debt associated with buying the property. "Actually on Friday was the first (donor) cultivation trip," he said. Read more about the acquisition and the groups plans this weekend in The Post-Star.  HYPERLINK "http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/06/20/news/local/aa7cdfdd9d1af79d852573000015fd4b.txt" http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/06/20/news/local/aa7cdfdd9d1af79d852573000015fd4b.txt It's a sign of the times By MAURY THOMPSON  HYPERLINK "mailto:thompson@poststar.com" thompson@poststar.com Wednesday, June 20, 2007 1:03 AM EDT Sale of the Finch, Pruyn & Co. forest land to The Nature Conservancy is the latest example of a trend in which paper companies are getting out of the logging business, industry experts said. "It is certainly a changing of an era in the Adirondacks," said Kevin King, executive vice president of the Empire State Forest Products Association. Separating ownership of the forest land from the manufacturing side of the operation, however, is not a sign the company's mill in Glens Falls is nearing the end of its era, said John Brodt, a spokesman for Finch Paper Holdings, the company that bought the Finch Pruyn paper mill and related manufacturing facilities. "If anything, the sale of the forest land makes the future of the mill more secure," said Brodt, of Behan Communications, who spoke on behalf of company President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Carota. Carota did not directly return requests for comment The Post-Star left with his secretary on Monday and Tuesday. The Nature Conservancy announced Monday it has purchased all 161,000 acres of the company's forest land for $110 million, or $683 an acre. Under terms of the sale, The Nature Conservancy has agreed to continue supplying Finch Paper with wood from the property for 20 years. The 20-year term of the agreement is typical of other similar agreements in the paper industry, and does not have any connection with the expected longevity of the mill, Brodt said. Lyme Timber Co. has 20-year agreements to supply wood to the International Paper Co. mill in Ticonderoga and a Domtar paper mill in Canada, said Sean Ross, forestry operations manager for the company based in Hanover, N.H. Lyme Timber bought land in the Adirondacks previously owned by International Paper and Domtar. At the end of 20 years, land owners and paper companies can renew the agreements, or paper companies can buy their wood elsewhere. Much of the wood local paper mills use to make pulp already comes from outside suppliers. On average over the past 10 years, between 5 percent and 10 percent of the wood Finch Pruyn used to make pulp for paper came from company-owned land, Brodt said. The rest of the wood was purchased from logging contractors around the Northeastern states. In the case of International Paper's Ticonderoga mill, less than one-third of the wood used comes from former company lands, now owned by Lyme Timer, said Bob McCormack, the mill's wood procurement manager. "It's probably something in the area of 25 to 30 percent," he said. Supply agreements benefit both paper mills and land owners, in that paper mills have a dependable supply of a portion of their wood at a predictable price, and land owners are assured of a market for wood, McCormack said. Wood prices under a supply agreement most commonly are based on average prices on the open market, but sometimes can be based on historical costs before the paper company sold the land, said Ross, of Lyme Timber. The concept has become common in the industry as paper companies have sold off land often held by the companies for decades. Forest land is a long-term investment, and paper industry investors have become increasingly focused on short-term gains, Ross said., "Honestly, it's shareholder driven," he said. "There was a lot of value locked up in the land, and shareholders were driving them to unlock that value." Even with a long-term supply agreement, the longevity of a mill is not guaranteed. Typically, there are clauses in the contract that allow paper mills to end a supply agreement early, Ross said. Wood supply is only one factor in decisions paper companies make about whether to keep a mill open, said John Wagner, associate professor of forest resources economics at the State University of New York School of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse. Other factors include the age of the mill, labor and utility costs, the degree of government regulations and the level of local and foreign competition, Wagner said in an e-mail response to The Post-Star. In some cases, mills find it is cheaper to buy pulp from outside suppliers rather than make it themselves, Wagner said. "In this case, even if supply agreements run out, the mill could still operate," he wrote. Finch Pruyn previously operated using pulp from outside suppliers during a lengthy strike in 2001 and for some time afterward. Finch Paper Holdings intends to continue operating all facets of the Glens Falls mill, including the pulp making operation, as usual, Timothy Fazio, managing partner of Atlas Holdings, said in April when the sale of the mill was first announced. Finch Paper Resources is a joint venture of Atlas Holdings and Blue Wolf Capital. Local government officials said the 20-year supply agreement, among other facets of Monday's announcement, makes them somewhat comfortable with the land sale, but there are also concerns. Local government officials would be more comfortable if The Nature Conservancy agreed to extend existing recreational leases on the property for 20 years, said Frederick Monroe, executive director of the Adirondack Park Agency Local Government Review Board. The Nature Conservancy said in its press release Monday it will extend existing recreational leases for one year. Local government officials want assurance the land will stay in private ownership after the 20-year supply agreement expires, said J.R. Risley, chairman of the Forest Preserve Advisory Committee to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Logging is prohibited on state-owned land in the Adirondacks. Local officials' aspirations to locate a wood-fiber alternative fuel refinery in the Adirondacks is dependent on maintaining logging in the Adirondacks, he said. Environmental groups generally support the state purchasing only a few select parcels of the former Finch Pruyn lands, said John Sheehan, a spokesman for the Adirondack Council, an environmental group. Those parcels are in the Hudson River Gorge area near the border between southern Essex and northern Warren counties, and also the Boreas Ponds area. Details of Finch, Pruyn land sale: * The Nature Conservancy will continue to pay all local property taxes, estimated at $1.1 million annually. * The Nature Conservancy has a 20-year agreement to supply wood to the Finch Paper Holdings paper mill in Glens Falls. * The Nature Conservancy will renew all existing recreational leases for another year when they expire this fall, providing lease holders are in good standing. Lease holders are able to use the property for activities such as hunting, fishing, snowmobiling, photography and hiking. * The Nature Conservancy, over the next year to 18 months, will develop a long-range strategy for management of the property. The organization will consult with community leaders, leaseholders and others with an interest in the property as it develops that strategy. Source: The Nature Conservancy press release  HYPERLINK "http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/06/19/news/local/c61a85953333df8a852572ff001781c7.txt" http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/06/19/news/local/c61a85953333df8a852572ff001781c7.txt Conservancy buys Finch Adirondack forest All 161,000 acres of land sold for $110M By MAURY THOMPSON  HYPERLINK "mailto:thompson@poststar.com" thompson@poststar.com Tuesday, June 19, 2007 1:17 AM EDT The company that bought all of the assets of Finch, Pruyn & Co. didn't hold onto the company's forest land very long. The Nature Conservancy announced Monday it has purchased all 161,000 acres of the company's forest land in the Adirondacks from Finch Paper Holdings for $110 million, or $683 an acre. The property is spread out among 31 towns and six counties, primarily within the Adirondack Park, The sale was concurrent with the closing on Monday of the previously announced sale of all of Finch Pruyn's assets to Finch Paper Holdings, a Connecticut-based holding company, according to a press release issued jointly by The Nature Conservancy and Finch Paper Holdings. The forest land sale includes an agreement The Nature Conservancy or subsequent owners of the forest land will continue to supply the Finch paper mill in Glens Falls with wood for 20 years. Selling the forest land will enable Finch to concentrate on its core business of making paper, said John Brodt, a company spokesman. "This is part of what I would call the new owners' strategy for success in Glens Falls," Brodt said. Finch Paper's woodlands division will continue to manage the property on an interim basis, while The Nature Conservancy, in cooperation with The Open Space Institute, develops a long-range strategy over the next year to 18 months, said Michael Carr, executive director of The Nature Conservancy's Adirondack chapter. A variety of possibilities will be considered, including selling some or all of the land to a private company, or possibly selling select parcels to the state. The state or an environmental organization conceivably may buy development rights on some or all of the land, but nothing has been decided yet, Carr said. The first challenge, he said, will be raising "tens of millions of dollars" to pay off the debt the environmental organization took on the make the purchase. The Nature Conservancy borrowed the full $110 million purchase price from The Open Space Conservancy, an arm of The Open Space Institute, and John Hancock Life Insurance Co., according to a press release. Carr said the Finch land is critical to protect because it holds a rare diversity of plant and animal species. The Nature Conservancy documented the variety of species in a project conducted jointly with Finch, Pruyn in 2001. "We discovered remarkable diversity ... that we had not seen anywhere else in the Adirondacks," Carr said in a telephone interview. Separately on Monday, Finch Paper Holdings announced it had completed its acquisition of all of the assets of Finch Pruyn, and restated that the new ownership will continue to operate the paper mill in Glens Falls. Terms of the sale were not disclosed to the public, but Finch Pruyn reported to its shareholders in April it was selling all of the company's assets to the holding company for $190 million. Finch Paper Holdings is a joint venture of Atlas Holdings and Blue Wolf Capital. Adam Blumenthal, managing partner of Blue Wolf Capital, said in a telephone interview Monday the two investment companies were impressed with Finch Pruyn's strong customer relations and long-standing reputation in the paper industry. The new owners will work with long-time Finch Pruyn President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Carota to attract new customers and develop new high-grade specialty paper products, Blumenthal said. About 850 people work at the Glens Falls paper mill and related operations. The new ownership intends to maintain existing employment levels, Blumenthal said. Wayne Spaulding, a minority Finch Pruyn shareholder and former employee, criticized the company over the sale. Spaulding said in a letter to the editor of The Post-Star that the way the sale was structured as a sale of assets indicated the company was in serious financial difficulty. "Available financial information would suggest that the company was having severe difficulty paying the interest on the ever-increasing debt and could not sustain normal operations," Spaulding said in the letter. As of April 1, Finch Pruyn had approximately $320.6 million in assets and about $161.8 million in liabilities, according to a shareholders report. Brodt said the company would not comment on Spaulding's letter. Blumenthal, of Blue Wolf, said the previous owners did not sell the company's assets because of worries about debt. Family-held operations, he said, commonly are sold after several generations of doing business. Finch Pruyn was established in 1865, and many of its shareholders in Finch Pruyn were descendents of company cofounder Samuel Pruyn. "That's a long run for a set of owners in American business," Blumenthal said.  HYPERLINK "http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/06/19/news/latest/doc4676d499e693e198422630.txt" http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/06/19/news/latest/doc4676d499e693e198422630.txt Nature Conservancy buys all of Finch Pruyn's Adirondack forest land By MAURY THOMPSON  HYPERLINK "mailto:thompson@poststar.com" thompson@poststar.com Tuesday, June 19, 2007 1:10 PM EDT The Nature Conservancy announced Monday afternoon it has purchased all 161,000 acres of forest land owned by Finch, Pruyn & Co. in the Adirondacks for $110 million. The sale includes an agreement to supply the Finch paper mill in Glens Falls with wood for the next 20 years. The purchase was concurrent with the closing of the sale Monday of all of Finch Pruyn's assets, including its paper mill and other facilities in Glens Falls, to a Connecticut-based holding company, according to a press release. The holding company will continue to operate the paper mill under the name Finch Paper Holdings. 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