Group questions Spencer timber sale

Concerned that the proposed Spencer Lake timber sale west of Whitefish doesn’t fully consider the recreational uses of that area, the Friends of Spencer Mountain group has organized a meeting on Tuesday to “take the pulse of the community” on the issue.

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the Grouse Mountain Lodge Alpine Room in Whitefish.

“We want an intact trail network when the logging is done,” Friends of Spencer President Jeff Gilman said. “Our fear is there may be nothing left” if the state logs the area and afterwards develops a recreation plan for those school trust lands.

The Kalispell unit of the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation proposes to harvest an estimated 10 million board feet of timber from 1,650 acres. The sale is expected to generate about $1.6 million for schools.

To reach the timber, 19.5 miles of road would be used, including 9.5 miles of new road construction and 10 miles of existing road that would require reconstruction and/or best management practices maintenance.

The 2,500-acre project area is wholly within the Spencer sub-area of the Whitefish Neighborhood Plan and includes the popular Spencer Mountain area that’s heavily used by mountain bikers and hikers.

Marshall Friedman, another Friends of Spencer principal, said his main concerns are the amount of timber proposed for harvest and the amount of roads proposed.

“The amount of cutting is extraordinary and over the top,” Friedman said. “It will take away the feeling of a forest of any kind...they shouldn’t do a timber sale without a recreation plan.”

That said, Friedman added that the Spencer group is “very much in favor of the timber cut and support that.

“But we don’t want to destroy options for ongoing recreation,” he said.

Gilman maintains the recreation plan should be fully completed before logging begins.

GREG PONCIN, Kalispell unit manager for the DNRC, said recreation is one of the sale objectives.

“As part of the sale, the objective says we’ll maintain existing recreation uses and continue to provide for future recreational uses of the trust lands,” he said. “We’re working with the community to engage the next phase of management on Spencer.”

That next phase is planning and figuring out ways that trust lands can be compensated from recreational uses. The state is mandated by law to generate income for schools off trust lands. There are about 13,000 acres of school trust lands surrounding Whitefish.

The Whitefish Neighborhood Plan emerged in 2004 following community concern that the state would develop some of the trust lands to bring in revenue. The ultimate goal of the neighborhood plan is to conserve trust lands and private lands providing open space, recreation, clean water, wildlife habitat and view sheds, while generating revenue for the trust beneficiaries.

Whitefish Legacy Partners was created as the conservation group to shape implementation strategies for the neighborhood plan. Legacy Partners members are working with the city of Whitefish and the state on a special recreational use license to conduct the needed planning for the Whitefish area school trust lands.

“We feel we’ve been true to the Whitefish Neighborhood Plan,” Poncin said.

He addressed the road issue, saying 9.5 miles of new roads sounds like a lot but emphasizing they’re needed to access the timber. The roads would be reclaimed and gated for trail use.

“A lot of people like the two-track for recreation” that the reclaimed logging roads would provide, he said. “The other nice thing is we’ll re-establish some drainage features” on existing roads.

The logging project was expected to go before the state Land Board on March 21, but given the lingering questions and concerns, Poncin said the presentation likely will be postponed.

“We want to sit down and work through these concerns,” Poncin said. “We probably won’t make the March meeting, but it’s important to take the time this needs.”

He hopes to set up a community meeting sometime during the week of March 14 to address Friends of Spencer Mountain concerns.

The logging sale was proposed in October 2009 and has been the subject of numerous public meetings, Poncin added. The state received more than 60 written comments on the project, most pinpointing the importance of maintaining the area’s recreational assets.

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