Folks support watershed project for recreation access

Protecting access to critical recreation is a top priority for those showing support of a proposed conservation easement for 13,000 acres of Weyerhaeuser property nine miles northwest of Whitefish.

About 20 people attended a meeting hosted by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks at Grouse Mountain Lodge last week on the environmental assessment for the proposed Whitefish Lake Watershed Project. Many of those in attendance urged the preservation of existing recreation opportunities on the land and preservation of the watershed.

Alan Myers-Davis, Whitefish Legacy Partners director of development, said getting ahead on conservation and the ever-increasing number of people getting outside and using the land will be the most beneficial way to keep both users and conservationists happy.

“We just want to reiterate that to look at the recreating in a collaborative way. There’s a lot of neighboring land owners, and an increase in recreation is happening it seems like every year, more people are getting out in the woods,” he said. “So if we can try to get ahead of that as a way to manage the land and the wildlife conservation, that would be awesome.”

Rebecca Norton said protecting the Whitefish Lake watershed is of the utmost importance.

“It’s imperative that we protect the watershed for Whitefish Lake. We are a water tower that generates all the water into the Columbia River Basin and millions downstream of us — it’s key that we keep this water protected,” she said.

Weyerhaeuser has decided to sell the property, but has agreed to give the Trust for Public Land the first option to buy and conserve it. A series of land maneuvers involving several agencies is proposed to place the property under a conservation easement and under state ownership, while still allowing for recreation on the entire project and for sustainable forest management on about 10,000 acres.

FWP is taking comments on the environmental assessment of its proposed actions as part of the conservation easement.

Alan Wood, science program supervisor for FWP’s Region 1, said recreation on the land would remain in place.

“If this deal goes through as planned, the recreational opportunities won’t really have changed,” Wood said. “All of the recreation that’s available on the state forest and Weyerhaeuser lands continue to exist and remain open. The big threat from our perspective is if the deal didn’t go through.”

The project would protect important fish and wildlife habitat that is currently threatened by residential development, the environmental assessment notes. It points out that there are more than 1,000 homes within a five-mile radius of the project and Flathead County is among the most rapidly growing counties in the state.

“Development of this area would mean the potential loss of these unique habitats, increased wildlife conflicts, degradation of water quality within the watershed, and the loss of economic benefits to the community through continued sustainable commercial forestry,” FWP says in its environmental assessment.

During the meeting, Wood also stressed the importance of maintaining crucial wildlife habitat on the Weyerhaeuser property. Currently the land is home to grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, mountain lions, elk and bull trout, among numerous others.

“It’s pretty much got it all in there,” he said. “It could potentially be a big hole in the middle of a large plot of public land if we aren’t able to achieve this.”

Under the proposal, the Trust For Public Land would acquire the entire area from Weyerhaeuser by the end of September 2017.

“The proposal, as it exists right now, is to use a very complex variety of funding to try to find a conservation outcome on the entire property,” Wood explained.

FWP would purchase the Lazy Creek conservation easement at about 10,000 acres in two phases with a combination of federal and state funding. The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation would purchase the underlying fee ownership from TPL once the conservation easement is in place.

FWP and TPL have secured $7 million in U.S. Forest Service Forest Legacy Program funding and $2 million in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Habitat Conservation Plan Land Acquisition funding for the first phase of the project.

The Bonneville Power Administration would also provide approximately $11.5 million in funding for the purchase of the remaining 3,000 acres in the Swift Creek watershed. In exchange for their funding, BPA would retain a perpetual conservation easement with ownership of these sections being transferred to the state.

FWP is taking comments on the environmental assessment of the proposed FWP actions of purchasing the Lazy Creek Conservation Easement and the potential for FWP to assume ownership of five sections in the Swift Creek drainage.

Following the public review, the FWP Region 1 Supervisor will issue a decision notice that makes a recommendation to the State Fish and Wildlife Commission on a course of action. The Commission and the State Land Board will make a final decision on approving the conservation easement.

The draft environmental assessment is out for a 30-day public review through 5 p.m. on July 12. Copies of the draft are available at the FWP office, 490 N. Meridian Rd., Kalispell and online at fwp.mt.gov/News/Recent Public Notices/Environmental Assessments/Acquisitions, Trades & Leases; and available for viewing at local libraries.

Comments can be submitted to: Nancy Ivy; Fish, Wildlife and Parks; 490 North Meridian Road, Kalispell, MT 59901 or call 406-751-4579 or by email at nivy@mt.gov.

For more information, contact Alan Wood at 406-751-4595 or awood@mt.gov; or Kris Tempel at 406-751-4573 or ktempel@mt.gov.