FWP discusses Trumbull conservation easement

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is gathering input on two proposed conservation easements on 10,000 acres of land owned by F.H. Stoltze Land & Lumber Co. on the southern slopes of the Whitefish Range.

The separate easements involve 3,020 acres in Haskill Basin north of Whitefish and another 7,150 acres along Trumbull Creek north of Columbia Falls.

FWP held a meeting in Columbia Falls last week to discuss the proposed projects and gather input that will be used in developing a draft environmental analysis document for the easements.

Alan Wood, FWP resource conservation manager, said the easements would allow the property to remain as working forest lands, while also preserving those lands.

“Stoltze has done a great job managing their land and this will allow the flexibility for them to continue to manage it as they have,” Wood said. “This will allow them to continue to manage the timber, allow public access and protect wildlife habitat.”

Chuck Roady, general manager of Stoltze, said both easements are important to the current owners of the company because they want to ensure permanent public access.

“The owners like the lands to be open to the public,” he said. “This will still allow us to manage the timber in a sustainable way that has always been the core of our business.”

Roady said the conservation easements will also halt requests to the company to sell the land.

“We get called a lot — people want to buy five to 500 acres,” he said. “These easements will make it so there can’t be development and people won’t be asking us anymore to purchase the land.”

The draft environmental review is expected in July, which will begin a formal public review process. In the fall, FWP officials will make a recommendation to the Fish and Wildlife Commission and then the easements for both projects will go before the State Land Board for approval.

FWP expects to close on the Haskill easement by the end of the year and the Trumbull easement in 2016.

FWP and Stoltze will develop a management plan as part of the conservation easements. The proposed easements would maintain current land uses by restricting development and other activities that are not compatible with continued forest management as a way to sustain existing fish and wildlife values on the properties, according to FWP.

The easements would allow for continued public access, and would allow for separate agreements to develop recreation trails.

The estimated value of the two conservation easements is about $33 million.

The two easements would be purchased by The Trust for Public Land and conveyed to FWP. The Haskill easement would be co-held by the city of Whitefish and FWP, and the Trumbull easement would be held by FWP.

Wood said typically one organization would hold a conservation easement, but in the case of Haskill Basin it made sense for the city to join FWP.

“The city has interest in this because of the water rights,” he said. “There will be equal rights under the easement and the agreement will split up who is responsible for what.”

About 75 percent of the city’s drinking water comes from Haskill Basin and the city has been advocating for the conservation easement as a way to protect its water source from potential development and also create a legal access easement to its water intakes.

Roady said insuring access to the city’s water intake was one of the reasons Stoltze is pursuing the conservation easement in Haskill Basin.

“We want to formalize with the city,” he said. “We’ve owned the land for their water system and we’ve wanted this to happen for a long time.”

The Haskill Basin easement is expected to cost $20.6 million. Stoltze has agreed to contribute $4 million to the project, while the Forest Service is expected to provide a $7 million grant, and a $2 million grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also is expected.

Whitefish voted last week to approve a 1 percent increase to the resort tax to help fund the deal. The city will contribute nearly $8 million to the project.

The Trumbull Creek easement is expected to cost $12.7 million. Stoltze has donated $3.2 million to the project, while the Forest Service is expected to provide $6.5 million, and a $2 million grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is also expected.

Another $1 million in funds is still needed for the Trumbull Creek project.