Timberland access gets big green light

A fee-for-use program on Potlatch land implemented more than a decade ago that required the public to buy permits to recreate is coming to an end.

That means hunters and anglers, hikers and bikers, birdwatchers and dog walkers who once had to pay — sometimes hundreds of dollars — to access Potlatch land now can return to thousands of acres in Idaho, without punching a ticket first.

The land will be leased to Idaho Fish and Game, which will finance the lease through a surcharge on hunting licenses.

The final agreement between Potlatch Deltic and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game was signed last week, allowing recreation enthusiasts in Idaho to access 567,000 acres of Potlatch land, as well as an additional 336,630 acres of private timberland in the Gem State.

That total equates to more than 1,250 square miles, or an area a little larger than 30 miles by 40 miles.

“Fish and Game announced the agreements in May, but multiple contracts with 12 companies took longer than expected,” Roger Phillips of Fish and Game said.

Prior to 2006, Potlatch allowed recreationalists on its vast timber holdings in Idaho, most of it in the Clearwater and the Panhandle.

But the company closed access, citing vandalism and the cost of cleaning up after a public that damaged trees, cut locks from gates, dumped garbage, left decrepit trailers and discarded automobiles and destroyed plantations by running through them with ATVs and four-wheel drives.

To offset the cost, Potlatch unveiled a fee-for-use program that allowed the company to capitalize on the recreational value of its Idaho acreage.

Similar programs a decade ago on Potlatch ground in places such as Minnesota, Oregon and Arkansas generated more than $1 million annually for the company, a spokesman said.

Under the latest agreement, Fish and Game will pay $1 per acre each year to Potlatch Deltic for at least three years, or almost $600,000 annually, to allow the public to use the timberlands.

Lands closed to the public include parcels associated with log yards, mill sites and certain acres listed for sale, said Anna Torma, Potlatch Deltic spokesperson. Recreational travel is limited to roads open to full-sized vehicles.

Fish and Game said the latest pact includes agreements with Stimson Lumber Co., Hancock Forest Management and the Molpus Woodlands Group, which allows public access to another 300,000 acres in Bonner, Boundary, Benewah, Shoshone and Kootenai counties. The agreements are part of the latest Fish and Game land lease program that targets large tracts of private land instead of the smaller parcels in its AccessYes! program.

Norm Merz, who manages the program, said each landowner has different rules for how to use their property.

“It’s still private land and the private landowners have different rules, so you have to know whose property you’re on, and check their rules,” Merz said.

In addition, much of the access is non-motorized, Merz said.

Torma said Potlatch will still require permits for popular campsites and activities aside from day use.

“We have long held the view that the land should be available to the public,” Torma said. “This will let them experience it first hand.”