OLD TOWN (AP) – Conservationist and businesswoman Roxanne Quimby approved an agreement Friday that should ease the worries of snowmobilers, hunters and other outdoors enthusiasts who feared they would lose access to 2,000 acres of state land east of Baxter State Park.

Quimby, the multimillionaire founder of Burt’s Bees, agreed to allow current uses of 23,000 acres she purchased east of Baxter State Park through Sept. 1, 2007, according Maine Snowmobile Association Executive Director Bob Meyers, who participated in a meeting with Quimby and others.

Snowmobilers, hunters and others who enjoy “traditional uses” of the outdoors feared that their activities would be declared off-limits on Quimby’s land, in effect preventing those activities in 2,000 acres of public land near Baxter State Park that had been set aside for them.

Friday’s agreement by Quimby allayed those worries.

“It was a terrific gesture on her part and a great point for future discussions,” Meyers said after the meeting, which he said took a couple of hours.

George Smith of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine; state Senate Minority Leader Paul Davis, R-Sangerville; and Millinocket Town Manager Gene Conlogue also attended the meeting.

Under a deal finalized last spring, about 4,000 acres surrounding Katahdin Lake were attached to Baxter State Park. Another 2,000 acres, where hunting and snowmobiling will be allowed, are to be managed by the Maine Department of Conservation.

State officials who helped arrange the land swap were not invited to Friday’s private meeting, Conlogue said.

The agreement reached Friday during the meeting requested by Quimby covers a portion of Township 3, Range 8 just east of Mount Katahdin. Quimby bought the parcel in early September for a little more than $10 million.

“It wasn’t the be-all and end-all. But I think it was a terrific start,” Meyers said.