Weyerhaeuser buyer says it has no plans to restrict access
This map shows Weyerhaeuser property that's under the Block Management program in Montana. The purple is the Weyerhaeuser lands. A sale could block off a huge swath of land to public access from Kalispell to Libby if the deal goes through, Lincoln County officials fear.
The company that is purchasing 630,000 acres of Weyerhaeuser lands in Northwest Montana claims it has “no plans” to restrict public access.
“In light of fast-developing speculation across the state, Southern Pine Plantations can confirm that we have entered into a purchase and sale agreement with Weyerhaeuser for its existing Montana timberlands. While we can’t provide specifics before the deal closes, SPP has no plan to change the long-standing practices of the prior owners related to public access, forest management, grazing, existing outfitting agreements and conservation easements, and other programs. We can’t comment further at this time, but we felt it was in the public interest to provide this assurance to concerned Montanans,” attorney James Bowditch said in an email to the Hungry Horse News Saturday.
Weyerhaeuser announced the $145 million deal, but company officials wouldn’t disclose who the buyer was.
But Lincoln County Commissioner Mark Peck learned that it was Southern Pine Plantations and called the deal a “disaster,” during a meeting earlier this week.
Peck expressed grave concerns that SPP would, in turn, sell the land to buyers like fracking magnates Dan and Farris Wilks, who own lands across the West.
According to the 2018 Land Report, a publication that tracks large landowners across the U.S., the brothers own about 702,000 acres of land in several states, though they had placed several large ranches in Montana they own up for sale in the past year.
The Wilkses have gated Forest Service roads that cross their lands in Idaho, blocking off public access.
The fear is that could happen in Northwest Montana. About 111,000 acres of Weyerhaeuser’s land holdings in Montana already have conservation easements on them that were brokered years ago when Plum Creek Timber Co. owned them. Plum Creek merged with Weyerhaeuser in 2016.
Those easements restrict subdivision on the land and assure public access on Weyerhaeuser lands in the Thompson-Fisher River drainages.
Generations of Montanans and hunted and fished on those lands, enjoying public access through the state’s Block Management program. The program assures public access, while Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks game wardens help patrol and investigate crimes on the lands.
The Block Management Program is negotiated annually with landowners. Weyerhaeuser’s annual agreement is set to expire in May — the second quarter of 2020, which is the same time the land deal with Southern Pine Plantations is expected to go through.