Ranger station bids climbing

By JIM MANN

The Daily Inter Lake

An online auction of U.S. Forest Service property and buildings including the ranger station at Hungry Horse has carried on for nearly five months, driving up bidding for the entire package to $1,850,000.

And the bids keep going up.

The bidding process has so far exceeded expectations for Hungry Horse District Ranger Jimmy DeHerrera, but now hes ready for the prolonged process to come to an end.

Im really pleased with the way its been working, DeHerrera said Friday, just hours after another bid came in for a tract of land that includes the current ranger station. Its been kind of uncharted territory for us. We went into it not knowing what to expect. But Im satisfied.

Through special pilot legislation approved by Congress, proceeds from the sale will be retained by Flathead National Forest to maintain and build new facilities. DeHerrera wants construction to start next spring on a new ranger station to house operations for the Hungry Horse, Glacier View and Spotted Bear ranger districts.

To carry out the sale of 90.54 acres, plus buildings and utilities on the land, the Flathead forest retained the federal General Services Administration, which carries out online auctions of government property across the country.

The auction opened June 13 and started out slowly with numerous bidders. With a soft close date and minimum bid intervals of less than $4,000 for four tracts of land, the going price for the properties has gradually gone up.

A decision was made this week to increase the minimum bid interval for each tract to $20,000 to expedite the bidding process. The minimum bid interval for all four tracts combined was increased to $50,000.

With these larger bidder intervals, it will take less time for people to reach the maximum amount where they can go, DeHerrera said.

There are three anonymous bidders left in the process, said Linda Smith, the Flathead forests lands program manager.

We do not know who they are, Smith said. They sign on with an alias, a bidding name that they use on the Web site. But we dont have information on who they are.

Like DeHerrera, Smith is pleased with the process and the ongoing bidding.

We didnt think it would last this long, she said. We didnt think it would go this high. We are pleasantly surprised.

DeHerrera and Smith said they cannot discuss an appraisal of the property conducted in summer 2004, or if current bids exceed values estimated in the appraisal.

But Smith said a hot real estate market in the Flathead Valley is likely having an effect on the auction.

Our appraisal is probably outdated significantly, she said.

The appraisal is privileged information, DeHerrera added. But I can say we are pleased with what we are seeing.

The Flathead Forest will seek a request for proposals on construction packages this winter, and will soon after open bidding for construction contracts, DeHerrera said.

The ranger station will be built between the ranger districts helicopter pad and the current ranger station, which was built in the late 1940s as the project office for construction of Hungry Horse Dam.

If there is any additional money from the auction, DeHerrera said it will be put to use in upgrading other facilities, such as the districts fire cache and bunkhouses.

DeHerrera said there is no certainty about when the new ranger station might be ready for use, so the sale of the current station comes with the condition that it can be leased by the Forest Service for two years.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com