Goguen land exchange detailed at trail meeting

By LYNNETTE HINTZE

The Daily Inter Lake

Michael Goguen's proposed land exchange for a 75-mile trail network around Whitefish comes with a couple of non-negotiable caveats for the trail that would cross his land: no hunting and no motorized vehicles.

The Goguen proposal drew the most discussion at a public meeting Wednesday to review a master plan for the trail. The audience generally supported the idea of an exchange, but had questions about access and future conservation.

Goguen, a partner in the California-based Sequoia Capital that financed Internet search-engine companies Google and Yahoo!, already owns large tracts of land in the Beaver Lake area and wants to exchange a 560-acre parcel he owns west of Whitefish with 440 acres of school trust land near Beaver Lake that's adjacent to his existing private land in that area.

Goguen told the audience he wants the state land to maintain the scenic character of the area and for his own private enjoyment.

"I didn't come here to make money," he said. "I do that elsewhere in high-tech land and the Silicon Valley."

Without ownership of the 440-acre state tract, he said, his property is like a "nice house, but I don't own the living room and have to tolerate the beer cans" left by the people using the living room.

"Not that the DNRC has done a bad job" of managing that acreage, he added.

Goguen first contemplated a land exchange about the same time Hollywood film producer Burt Sugarman proposed a controversial land exchange three years ago to acquire state land around the acreage he owned along Whitefish Lake. That proposal was criticized heavily and eventually scuttled, and Goguen opted to wait for a better time to make his offer.

"I felt my motivations were different," he said.

Goguen wants the 440 acres for conservation and "quiet enjoyment."

"I am committed to permanently protecting the land from development," he said in his proposal. "We will be protecting the land in perpetuity."

When questioned about off-trail access on the land he wants, Goguen said hopes people will stay on the trail to respect his private property rights.

"I think each individual [private] landowner [along the trail route] will have similar sets of rules," he said.

There aren't current plans for a fence along his portion of trail, but Goguen said he will be sensitive about the public "honoring their end of the bargain."

The public gains 120 acres of state land and trails in both parcels if the state Land Board approves Goguen's plan. He's offered to pay for the development of trails on both exchange tracts and will donate a minimum of $3 million for an additional endowment to the city of Whitefish for construction and maintenance of the "A Trail Runs Through It" project.

Goguen pointed out that the parcel he wants was heavily logged from 1999 to 2002, while the parcel he wants to give up has the potential of providing long-term revenue to the state through timber production and recreation permit sales. An existing permanent easement with the Flathead Land Trust will limit development to three homesites on the 560-acre piece.

Whitefish Mayor Andy Feury, who's been involved in developing the trail master plan, lauded the project and Goguen's proposal.

"We think we have a very good first transaction before us," Feury said. "Everything won't be accomplished with this first transaction," but it sets the groundwork for trail development. "Everyone will get something of value."

Feury acknowledged that different user groups have different ideas about how the system should be developed and used, and said debate and negotiations have resulted in "a better product."

A steering committee and 18-member planning committee have been the driving force behind the trail neighborhood plan.

The trail network creates a continuous corridor encircling the greater Whitefish area, with various trailheads throughout the route. In includes Lion Mountain, Skyles Lake, Spencer Mountain, Beaver Lakes, Swift Creek, Big Mountain, Haskill Basin, Happy Valley and K-M Ranch Road area.

A second landowner proposal plays into the trail system at Britell's Point of Pines subdivision on the south side of East Lakeshore Drive. Eight homeowners within the subdivision want to use state trust land for a sanitation drain field. A related request to resolve an outstanding access issue in that area will be coordinated with the drain-field request.

The deadline for public comments on the trail master plan is Sept. 13. The master plan can be downloaded at www.trailrunsthroughit.org. Comments can be sent to Steve Lorch, Department of Natural Resources and Conservation community planner, by e-mail at slorch@mt.gov or write 2250 U.S. 93 N., Kalispell, MT 59901-2557.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.