ALBANY - The state has agreed to buy 57,699 acres of timberland as well as conservation easements on another 73,627 acres in the central Adirondacks from the nonprofit group that bought the land last year from a lumber company.

The Nature Conservancy, in an effort to protect wildlife and habitat, had purchased 161,000 acres that were owned for decades by Finch, Pruyn & Co. The $110 million purchase last summer was done with borrowed money, including $25 million from the Open Space Institute.

The agreement announced Thursday covers forests in the towns of Newcomb, Indian Lake, North Hudson, Minerva and Long Lake, the state Department of Environmental Conservation said.

The portion being added to the state forest preserve would include the Boreas Ponds, Essex Chain of Lakes, Hudson Gorge and Opalescent River headwaters. It would open to the public gradually during a 10-year transition as hunting club or other leases are phased out.

The larger portion covered by easements would continue club leases while opening some new land for public hiking, hunting, fishing and other outdoor recreation, the DEC said. The conservancy plans eventually to sell it to private timber management investors.

The price for the purchases will be set after appraisals.

“The scale of this massive project allows for a variety of compatible uses,” said Michael Carr, executive director of the Adirondack Chapter of The Nature Conservancy.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to ensure the conservation of a critical area of Adirondack backcountry while supporting the people who live there,” DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis said.

The agreement contemplates a network of snowmobile trails linking North Hudson, Newcomb, Long Lake, Minerva, and Indian Lake, meant to boost the local economy.

The conservancy is paying property taxes, and the state will pay them on land it buys as well as its share of the value of easement lands, the DEC said.

Up to 1,098 acres will be dedicated to community uses like public recreation facilities and community housing, the agency said, noting the agreement followed extensive meetings with local officials. The DEC also plans to work to designate some of the lakes and ponds for float plane use.

Officials said they are developing an agreement for the remaining 27,000 acres of former Finch, Pruyn timberland in the southern Adirondacks.

The conservancy sent out initial annual leases last summer to 104 leaseholders, mostly hunting and fishing clubs, that occupied 135,000 acres.

Some forests are still logged under a 20-year agreement to ensure a wood fiber supply to the Finch Paper Holdings paper mill in Glens Falls.

The DEC said Thursday at least two-thirds of the clubs will likely see no change or can be accommodated elsewhere.

A 2001 conservancy study found 95 significant animal and plant species, 37 of which are considered rare in New York. Among the rarest was the Steller's cliffbrake, a small limestone fern. The parcels contain high-altitude bird habitats, as well as limestone outcroppings that are rare in the Adirondacks.

The public has been able to use the land where old public easements existed, such as along the Northville-Placid Trail between Blue Mountain and Long Lake.

On the Net

DEC map: ftp://ftp.dec.state.ny.us/dpae/press/finchpruyn