EDITORIAL: Weyerhaeuser on the right path

A few months ago, local residents breathed a sigh of relief when timber giant Weyerhaeuser announced it planned to retain the open-access policies to the company’s Montana timberlands that were followed by its predecessor, Plum Creek.

That was by no means a certainty, given the new owner’s policy of requiring paid permits for access and use of Weyerhaeuser lands in other areas.

Unfortunately, we learned recently that the policy of open access is very much up in the air. The good news is that Weyerhaeuser has agreed to continue allowing public hunting access on most of its private land for another year. The bad news, of course, is that a year passes quickly, and there is no certainty that a long-term agreement will be hammered out.

The impact of keeping timberlands open for public use is huge. State wildlife agency estimates show Plum Creek lands attract up to 80,000 hunter-days annually. That doesn’t include the wide range of other recreational uses.

Kendra McKlosky, the regional access coordinator for Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, is optimistic now that Weyerhauser has renewed hunting access agreements under the state’s Block Management Program, which compensates landowners for allowing access.

“Weyerhaeuser is the new kid on the block, and it’s huge that they’ve said yes,” McKlosky said. “We have to take this in small steps for both FWP and Weyerhaeuser. I think they’ve put their best foot forward.”

It’s definitely a small step in the right direction. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that a comprehensive agreement is at the end of the path.

Welcome back, Questa!

Elegant sister ships once again will sail the waters of Flathead Lake.

On Wednesday, the 51-foot-long Questa was returned to the water at Flathead Lake Lodge. Its christening with whiskey capped a seven-year saga of restoration for the classic sailing ship.

The Questa and the Nor’Easter V form a priceless pair stationed at the lodge near Bigfork.

Starting in 2009, shipwright Jon Derry painstakingly restored the Questa to a point where “she’s stronger than the day she was built” in 1929, he said.

When first built, they were among the fastest sailing ships in the world and today there are only about a dozen left — and only a fraction of those are still sailing, according to owner Doug Averill.

With the Questa returned to duty, people can once again see two rare specimens of maritime history gliding impressively across the surface of Flathead Lake.