Councilors praise Haskill land deal in final vote

A deal that protects the city’s source for drinking water and provides public access to the forest while allowing for continued management of timberlands is nearly complete.

Whitefish City Council Jan. 19 unanimously approved the conservation easement for Haskill Basin, along with the recreation management agreement, for 3,020 acres of F.H. Stoltze Land & Lumber Co. property north of town. It also approved a trail easement for the Whitefish Trail through the Stoltze property and modifications to prior trail easements with Winter Sports Inc. and Iron Horse.

Mayor John Muhlfeld said the conservation easement is truly a one-of-a-kind deal.

“I would like to recognize Stoltze, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and Whitefish Legacy Partners for helping close this deal — all your efforts are much appreciated,” he said.

A deal years in the making, the final pieces of the Haskill Basin conservation easement are slowly wrapping up with the entire deal expected to close by mid-February. The State Land Board and Fish and Wildlife Commission have already approved the easement.

“To understand the importance of this one only has to look at the loss of First Creek as a water source,” Councilor Richard Hildner said, referring to the city’s water intake on the creek that was abandoned because of contamination related to development.

“To be able to preserve Second and Third creeks is unprecedented,” he added. “I would also like to recognize the willingness of F.H. Stoltze Land & Lumber to foster this community relationship and to preserve our water supply for future generations. This is unprecedented and a great symbol of what happens when people come together and work together.”

The Trust for Public Land began working on the easement in 2013 and negotiated the option for purchase of a conservation easement with Stoltze. It then secured a $9 million in federal grants for purchase of the easement. In April 2015 Whitefish voters overwhelmingly passed an increase of the resort tax to provide the additional $7.7 million needed from the city to complete the deal. The final appraisal of the land set the value of the conservation easement at $19.98 million. The cash purchase price of the easement is $16.7 million with Stoltze providing a donation of almost $4 million to the purchase.

Stoltze will continue to manage and harvest trees from the forest under the easement, while maintaining public access and prohibiting residential development. The easement is a perpetual easement and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks will serve as the steward and primary overseer of the easement and land for the public, according to the city.

The city has said that the retirement of Stoltze’s development rights provided in the easement would permanently protect Whitefish’s primary source of drinking water. Whitefish gets its water from Second and Third creeks in Haskill Basin, and from Whitefish Lake.

As part of the easement, the city will gain a permanent easement guarantying its right to access lands to maintain its water system.

“Prior to these transactions, the city operated only on the verbal approval of the F.H. Stoltze Land & Lumber Co. for access to our water intakes and water source pipelines,” said City Manager Chuck Stearns. “However, we had that neighborly access for approximately 100 years and there was no threat to our access.”

The water system and road access easement will give the city perpetual easement on the actual physical location of the intakes at First, Second and Third creeks, easements on a 40-foot swath of land along the city’s entire system of waterlines in Stoltze lands, and easement on lands along the entire roads which Stoltze owns on the property.

In trade for the water access easement, the city will transfer ownership of 2.569 acres of land to Stoltze. The property is near, but not on the water intakes. This will bring the entire conservation easement size to 3,022 acres.

“Thus, for giving up fee simple title to 2.569 acres of land in Haskill Basin, we are obtaining perpetual easements on 41.68 acres of land in Haskill Basin,” Stearns said. “Moreover, we do not want ownership of two ‘orphan’ parcels of land within the 3,020 acres of the conservation.”