SKOWHEGAN (AP) – The long-term outlook for Maine’s maple syrup industry remained uncertain after the new owner of a 60,000-acre tract in Somerset County signed one-year leases with syrup producers representing 90 percent of the state’s output.

But Connecticut-based White Birch Paper Ltd. hopes to sell the land this fall, which could leave the syrup producers in the lurch if the new owners decide not to support the industry.

“I personally would be very surprised if something can’t be worked out with whoever buys the land,” said LandVest broker Steven Coleman, who is handling the sale.

The Maine Maple Producers Association offered to buy the land for $15 million to keep the syrup industry intact, but its offer was turned down.

Maine is the country’s No. 2 maple syrup producer behind Vermont, with production rising from less than 12,000 gallons a year through most of the 1980s to 290,000 gallons this season.

For the syrup producers, some of whose families have worked the land for generations, the one-year leases were a mixed blessing. The previous leases expired April 30 but were extended to June 1.

“There’s not much good in it,” said Robert Smith, of Skowhegan, who leases hundreds of acres for syrup making and has at least $200,000 invested in his camp. “We’ll just have to wait and see who the new owner is.”

The 28 affected producers had been in limbo since spring, postponing improvements until they had new leases. They wondered whether they would be able to continue sugaring, or if they would have to remove $40 million worth of equipment, machinery and living quarters from the land.

State agriculture officials are looking into land trusts and easements that could protect syrup producers.

“We are asking the question, What will it take to save this industry?”‘ said Mary Ellen Johnston, director of market and production development for the Maine Department of Agriculture. “We have a huge agricultural interest in that land.”

White Birch is owned by Peter M. Brant and Joseph Allen. In March, White Birch and RFR Holding LLC of New York purchased the Papiers Stadacona paper mill in Quebec City, as well as Leduc Sawmill in Quebec.

Included in the deal were 100,000 acres of hardwood stands – 40,000 acres in Quebec and 60,000 acres just across the border in Maine.

AP-ES-06-15-04 1045EDT