Land deal targets 15,000 acres near Whitefish Lake

A deal to protect more than 15,000 acres of land north of Whitefish Lake is in the works between Plum Creek and the conservation group The Trust for Public Land.

The majority of these lands owned by Plum Creek is surrounded by the Stillwater State Forest and is dissected by Swift Creek and Lazy Creek. The eastern edge of property is about 1 1/2 miles from Whitefish Lake.

Under the proposed agreement, The Trust for Public Land will have an option to purchase 1,920 acres and establish a conservation easement on the remaining 13,414 acres, which Plum Creek will continue to own and manage as a working forest. The purchased lands will eventually be transferred into public ownership or to a conservation buyer.

Tom Ray, vice president of northwest resources and manufacturing at Plum Creek, said The Trust for Public Land approached the timber company about the easement a few months ago. He called the proposed deal a “win-win solution” for conservation and keeping jobs in the local timber industry.

He said the land has been harvested periodically over the last 20 years, leaving a mix of age classes across the forest.

“We’ll be maintaining the [harvest] management as it has been,” Ray said.

Alex Diekmann, senior project manager for The Trust for Public Land, says the parcel has always been a high priority for conservation.

“It’s big and it’s smack dab in the middle of some of the best habitat anywhere,” Diekmann said.

He notes that the land is home to grizzly bears, lynx, bull trout and westslope cutthroat.

It’s also a connecting corridor for roaming species like wolverines and bears, he said.

“Large wild-ranging species travel through there because it’s surrounded by public land,” he said. “It’s got connectivity values.”

Diekmann also touts the easement’s potential impact on Whitefish’s municipal water supply.

Whitefish gets most — about 75 percent — of it’s water from Haskill Basin. Voters this spring approved an increase in the resort tax to help back a $20.6 million land deal between The Trust for Public Land and F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber Co. aimed at protecting the Haskill watershed.

The other portion of the city’s water comes from Whitefish Lake. Diekmann points out that the lake is a critical water source when the Haskill Basin flow slows down in dry years.

“If water levels in Haskill decline, the lake becomes an increasingly important water source,” he said.

About 85 percent of the lake’s water travels through the Plum Creek property, Diekmann added.

Whitefish Legacy Partners has interest in connecting the Whitefish Trail through the property, as well.

Ray said he expects Plum Creek will be approached by the Legacy Partners about trail easements once the agreement is finalized.

A purchase price for the conservation easement hasn’t yet been set and the agreement is subject to final conditions including appraisal and secured funding.

According to Diekmann, the outright purchase of the 1,920 acres would close by 2016. The conservation easement on the remaining 13,414 acres would be divided into two phases, with the second phase closing by 2018.

Diekmann readily admits raising money to back the proposed easement will be a tall order.

“Everything is still subject to the appraisal, which is still to be determined,” he said. “But it’s not going to be a small number. It’s a big acreage. We’re going to have to put our thinking cap on to draw from all the private and public sources we can think of.”

In the recent Haskill deal, Stoltze agreed to contribute $4 million to the project, while the Forest Service provided a $7 million grant, and a $2 million grant came from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The city’s resort tax will generate about $8 million to the deal.

The Trust for Public Land and Stoltze are also working on a another 7,150 acre conservation easement along Trumbull Creek north of Columbia Falls. The estimated value of the two Stoltze conservation easements is about $33 million.