Is this what you want?

“I was lucky. My buddy and I bought the entire upper portion of the Pack River basin from the feds last year. Beautiful place. I’m thinking of putting in a little landing pad and a cabin up by Harrison Lake where we can kick back, have a few beers and do some fishing on Harrison and those other dinky lakes I bought. Of course we will have to lock the gate on the road, put up some fences. No horses, no hiking, no snowmobiles, no hunting or fishing, that kind of thing. Disturbs our peace. You’ll understand of course, it’s private property now. Better than the feds still owning it.”

Ridiculous? Sure, but going up U.S. 95 or U.S. 200 or U.S. 2, how many private roads can you turn left or right on and gain access into those beautiful mountains or onto our lakes and rivers? On how many private trails have you wandered to the high ridges? On how many private properties and waters can you fish and hunt? Yet despite all those “no trespassing” signs, I would wager most of those property owners are good neighbors, good people. They just don’t want all of us walking, hunting and fishing on their property. We usually do all that on public land and water, on U.S. Forest Service and other federal or state land and I, for one, am grateful it’s there and that it gives us opportunity to experience life outside a planted garden and outside someone’s fence.

JIM DUBUISSON

Sandpoint