Haskill Basin plan pegged at $20.6 million
According to a funding plan for a conservation project, the city of Whitefish could pay $5 million toward protecting 3,020 acres in the Haskill Creek drainage.
The matter was brought to the attention of the Columbia Falls City Council by councilor Mike Shepard during their Feb. 2 meeting.
The total cost for the Haskill Creek Conservation Easement is $20.6 million. The land is currently owned by F.H. Stoltze Land & Lumber Co., which has agreed to donate $3.9 million of the total cost.
The rest of the funding would include $7 million from the U.S. Forest Service through its Forest Legacy Program and $2 million from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service through its Habitat Conservation Plan program. Another $2.7 million would need to be raised.
Last March, the Forest Service ranked the project at the top in its Forest Legacy Program, which provides grants to states to purchase permanent conservation easements and other property interests that protect forest land resources.
The Haskill Creek easement is part of the larger South Whitefish Range Conservation Project, which also includes 7,150 acres of working forest lands owned by Stoltze in the headwaters area of Trumbull Creek, north of Columbia Falls.
The total cost of the Trumbull Creek Conservation Easement is $12.7 million, of which $6.5 would come from the Forest Legacy Program, $2 million from the Habitat Conservation Plan and $3.2 million as a donation from Stoltze. Another $1 million would need to be raised.
The Trust for Public Land, which secured an option good through 2015 to purchase the development rights from Stoltze, will assist in project coordination, public outreach, fundraising and final transfer of the conservation easements to the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
The city of Whitefish has initiated plans for local fundraising, and FWP and its partners already have submitted applications for federal funding.
Whitefish city councilors met with representatives from the Trust for Public Land in fall 2014 to talk about funding options for the city’s $5 million share. Options could include issuing general obligation bonds, raising the city’s resort tax, raising water rates or increasing property taxes.
According to The Trust for Public Land, the Haskill Creek drainage provides about 75 percent of the city of Whitefish’s drinking water supply.
But according to the city of Whitefish’s Haskill Reservoir Management Plan, only 475 acres of the watershed for Second Creek and Third Creek, which provide water to the city reservoir, belongs to Stoltze. About 73 percent of the watershed for the two creeks, or 1,801 acres, is Forest Service land. Another 8 percent, or 207 acres, belongs to Winter Sports Inc.
Under the conservation easement, the land would be permanently protected for water, wildlife and recreation, as well as for continued sustainable forest management.
Stoltze would continue to own and manage the Haskill Creek and Trumbull Creek lands under the conservation easements. The land would be available for recreation, but future commercial or residential development would not be allowed.
Stoltze officials say the company, a privately-held family corporation, wants to continue managing these highly productive lands for timber production but is willing to sell the development rights. Stoltze will also maintain current uses, leases, wildfire suppression measures, public access and educational programs — including the annual Family Forestry Expo.
Benefits of the South Whitefish Range Conservation Project, company officials say, include maintaining local timber jobs and local tax base; maintaining traditional recreation and educational opportunities on Stoltze land and adjacent public land; and protecting wildlife, fisheries, scenic, cultural and other natural resources.
According to a timeline provided by Stoltze, negotiations for the conservation easements could be finalized in summer 2015; approvals from the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission and State Land Board could come in fall 2015; the Haskill Creek easement could close as soon as December 2015; and the Trumbull Creek easement could close as soon as December 2016.