Public meeting on Woods Bay sale shows opposition

By ALEX STRICKLAND / Bigfork Eagle

A meeting designed to showcase public comment on the possible sale of 440 acres of state land in Woods Bay displayed only opposition to the sale by area residents.

The meeting — by turns civil, heated and downright rowdy — gave residents a chance to air their feelings about the parcel that contains popular recreation spot Estes Lake.

About 70 people came to Swan River Hall and approximately 15 spoke out against the proposed sale.

Ed Fitzgerald, who lives in Woods Bay, said he's already been hiking up to Estes Lake this year.

"I'd really hate to not be able to do that," he said.

Dave Seymour owns land adjacent to the DNRC parcel and said that landowners and Ferndale logger Justin Haggleman of Triple-B logging had set up a temporary easement about two years ago to conduct some timber management, but the DNRC balked at the offer. Seymour said the DNRC told them that nothing less than a permanent easement would suffice.

"This (sale) is probably because we wouldn't give them a permanent easement," he said.

Greg Ponson of the DNRC explained that his agency's mandate was to make sure schools benefited from their management of trust land. The parcel in question, he said, is allocated for Montana Tech in Butte.

"The schools have to be compensated for every use, that's our mandate," he said.

Ponson said the agency wanted permanent access to the parcel not just for timber management, but also for things like weed and recreation management. The DNRC has said that ATV trespass on the property has been an ongoing problem.

Though no date was set, Ponson said there would be a public meeting held by the DNRC to go over public comment collected by the May 21 deadline that would hopefully help corral ideas about what to do with the 400 acres.

But Doug Averill, for one, wasn't impressed by the state's position and their foot-dragging on utilizing the temporary access.

"We've got a creative solution," he said of the temporary easements. Averill also suggested that with some of the high-tech logging equipment currently available the DNRC should have no trouble generating revenue from timber sale off the property.

A virtual parade of area people related their histories hunting, hiking and enjoying the state property. Wildlife biologist Byron Crow said he's been studying peregrine falcons just over the line on Forest Service land and said that not only was the area home to the rare birds, but also a corridor for elks and habitat for bears, moose and others.

"There's snowshoe hare up there, and they're an indicator species for lynx," he said. The Canadian Lynx are protected under the endangered species act.

Edd Blacker, who, along with Rep. Bill Jones (R-House District 9), organized the meeting, said, "one thing we agreed upon is that this land cannot get sold out of the public domain."