AUGUSTA (AP) – Gov. John Baldacci has received Down East magazine’s 2009 environmental award for the crafting of a plan that reserves portions of Sears Island for port development and conservation.

Baldacci told Friday’s presentation ceremony at the Blaine House that the 46-member group that developed the Sears Island Planning Initiative recognized the benefits that would accrue to Maine by breaking a prolonged impasse and reaching consensus.

Advocates of development and conservation have been at loggerheads for decades over use of the state-owned island in Penobscot Bay.

A small group of protesters gathered outside the Blaine House to express disapproval of the award and the state plan that they view as a threat to the environment.