Bredesen: Let’s make a deal for Bowater’s Cumberland land
“This may be a once in a lifetime, once in a generation kind of opportunity,” the governor said.
Bredesen said the state is focusing on about 100,000 acres of Bowater-owned property on the plateau, a wide swath of rugged, mostly forested high ground that bisects the state from north to south.
Bredesen made the comments after speaking at Point Park on Lookout Mountain about his intention to recommend increasing the state’s land buying power by $10 million in next year’s state budget. That appropriation would give the Tennessee Heritage Conservation Trust Fund a total of $20 million.
Bredesen said the Bowater land would cost much more than $20 million.
“If it is something that we can swing, I think we really as a state ought to scratch and try make it happen,” the governor said. “This kind of land is not going to come on the market again.”
Bredesen did not say how a land deal would be funded. He said state Environment and Conservation Commissioner Jim Fyke was “looking carefully” to see how much of the land the state might want to secure.
The state could use the land for public parks, forests, wildlife management areas, greenways and recreation zones.
Bowater spokesman Gordon R. Manuel has said the company was taking offers from all prospective buyers. He said Greenville, S.C.-based Bowater intends to continue logging in the region by negotiating timber rights with the new owners.
The state conservation trust fund, signed into law in September, is meant to raise money, collect donations and coordinate public and private partnerships to conserve natural areas throughout the state.
Rep. Mike Turner, D-Nashville, has introduced legislation that would have the state issue up to $300 million in bonds to raise the money. The land is scattered in numerous tracts across 14 counties in East and Middle Tennessee.
The Tennessee Environmental Council has proposed having the state use a portion of money already designated for land acquisition — about $18 million a year generated from real estate transfer taxes.
Bredesen also said Tuesday that he also wants to eliminate entrance fees at Tennessee’s 23 state parks that charge for access and plans to adopt Fyke’s proposal to add $924,000 to the budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 to offset the lost fees.