Forest Capital, conservancy ink land deal

BONNERS FERRY  — A square-mile chunk of land on the west side of the Kootenai Valley just south of the Canadian border will be set aside for bears and building materials, but there will be no building here.

In a deal between Forest Capital Partners, a timber company, and the Nature Conservancy, one of the largest conservation landholders in the country, the 647-acre swath at Boundary Creek will be a conservation easement to protect grizzly bear habitat.

The new designation will not, however, remove the land, located 15 miles north of Bonners Ferry, from timber production.

“We sold the development rights, so that land will always be a working forest,” Kennon McClintock, regional manager of Forest Capital in Idaho said. “It can never be developed.”

McClintock, who grew up in Bonners Ferry, and joined Forest Capital Partners after it purchased land owned by his previous employer, Crown Pacific, who bought the land from Washington-Idaho Forest Products, said the deal brokered between the timber management company and the conservation group benefits the economy, as well as the environment.

“It keeps us operating and it keeps the land working,” he said.

Several years in the making, the conservation easement, which includes a square mile of land between the Kootenai Indian Reservation and the Kaniksu National Forest, and bordered by the state’s Smith Creek and Boundary Creek wildlife management areas is part of a travel corridor for grizzly bears, McClintock said.

In addition, it is transected by Boundary Creek, a mountain stream with viable populations of redband and bull trout — threatened species.

Matt Miller of the Nature Conservancy said the land will remain under Forest Capital ownership, and will still be managed for timber production.

At the same time the easement will act as an example of how land managed for forest products can equally support wildlife, including sensitive species.

“Forest Capital always thought logging operations could coexist with grizzly bears,” Miller said. “They are great stewards of that property from a wildlife perspective.”

Although the easement prohibits building or subdivisions on the property in perpetuity, timber management will occur under a forest management plan specified by the easement. Timber managers such as McClintock will annually submit plans for approval by  Nature Conservancy.

“It is something we can live with,” he said. “It will be managed as a working forest with us as stewards of land. It keeps us operating, and it keeps the land working.”

The easement property which is accessed by the West Side Road, a north/south thoroughfare that follows the Kootenai River Valley, is dotted with old homesteads.

The apple orchards and meadows are used by grizzlies in the fall, when they feed in the orchards, and in the spring when bears graze on the new grass, he said.

The forested land has been in timber production for the past several decades, McClintock said, with approximately half of the trees considered mature and the other half as young growth.

“We’ve done a lot of planting up there,” he said.

In addition to bull trout and redbands, the stream holds burbot, another fish species with dwindling numbers.

A conservation grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation helped pay for part of the project, according to a press release. In addition, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service working with the Idaho Fish and Game helped fund easement acquisition.

“This has been a great partnership to keep working forests working,” said Robyn Miller of the Nature Conservancy. “Private forests offer so many benefits to North Idaho, from protection of endangered species to jobs, from clean water to big game habitat.

By working together with partners, local county officials and citizens, we can ensure that these values continue to be protected while maintaining the foundation of our economy.”

Forest Capital plans an additional 4,000-acre conservation easement pat McArthur Lake, McClintock said.

The Nature Conservancy through land exchanges in Idaho has more than 300,000 acres under its umbrella, Miller said, including 30,000 acres in conservation easements.

Forest Capital owns 2.1 million forested acres nationally with 280,000 acres in Idaho’s six northern counties.