Spencer timber sale talks continue
A stakeholder meeting to air concerns about the proposed Spencer Lake timber sale will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Glacier Bank community room in Whitefish.
The state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation is hosting the meeting as a chance for affected groups and organizations “to get some face time” and discuss lingering issues such as a 72-acre “shelter wood” proposed behind Spencer Lake by Whitefish Legacy Partners, said Greg Poncin, Kalispell unit manager for the state agency.
Whitefish Legacy Partners and Friends of Spencer Mountain are among the stakeholders invited to the meeting.
Diane Conradi, director of Whitefish Legacy Partners, said the organization hopes to hear from the state how it intends to incorporate Whitefish Legacy Partners’ recreation-friendly guidelines into the timber sale environmental assessment.
“The guidelines, developed to help DNRC meet their sale objective ‘to maintain existing and future recreational uses and continue to provide for future recreational use of the trust lands,’ outline a number of specific recommendations on certain sites like the front face of Spencer Mountain, and over larger areas to ensure a quality recreational experience,” Conradi said. ”To date, we do not have a firm grasp on whether or how the DNRC intends to address those concerns.”
The state proposes to harvest an estimated 10 million board feet of timber from 1,650 acres of school trust lands to generate about $1.6 million for schools. 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.
The Friends of Spencer group also is concerned the sale guidelines don’t fully consider recreational uses of that area. The group believes the state shouldn’t conduct a timber sale without a recreation plan in place upfront.
“We’re trying to be a voice for the recreation community,” Friends of Spencer President Jeff Gilman said, adding that the group plans to take its concerns to the state Land Board that ultimately will vote whether to approve the Spencer timber sale.
Friends of Spencer held a meeting last week to bring community members up to speed on the proposed timber sale, and drew a crowd of about 65 people.
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.