Commission OKs purchase of Lost Trail easement

Terry Zink of Marion is a lifelong bowhunter and houndsman and his comment about the Lost Trail Conservation easement was brief, but meaningful.

“I believe the residents of Marion and the Flathead Valley will appreciate this easement,” Zink said.

Zink made his comment during Thursday afternoon’s Montana Fish and Game Commission hearing on the proposed easement that will protect more than 7,000 acres of wild land favored by elk and deer as well as several other species.

Not long after Zink spoke, the Commission voted unanimously to approve the purchase by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

Jim Vashro of Flathead Wildlife also has strong feelings about the easement and its potential effects.

“It will more than double the effectiveness of the Lost Trail Refuge,” Vashro said. “We hope this easement will begin continued cooperation to establish future easements in the area.”

Conservation easements, depending on the agreement, allow the current property owner to maintain it while preventing human development, typically in the form of subdivisions.

For the Lost Trail easement, the deal is being made with Georgia-based Southern Pine Plantation, a large timber producer. Southern Pine bought more than 600,000 acres of timber land from Weyerhaeuser in 2019. In November, it was announced Seattle-based Green Diamond Resource Co. would buy 291,000 acres from Southern Pine. Part of that parcel includes the easement, but according to Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the agency will still close on the easement with Southern Pines, and the pending transfer of ownership “does not change any aspect of the environmental assessment other than the eventual owner of this property.”

In the public comment period for the project, 14 of 15 comments supported the acquisition of a conservation easement on the property.

The agency also received a 13-page letter from WRH Nevada Properties, an Idahobased company that owns mineral rights underlying approximately 95% of the area proposed for the easement. Issues raised included how the easement might impact those rights and other “buyback” surface rights.

Bozeman attorney Peter Scott represents WRH Nevada and he repeated those assertions during Thursday’s meeting.

“The issue which needs to be discussed is a property owner not being approached about the purchase of mineral rights,” Scott said.

There was some brief discussion about the subsurface mineral rights, but Commissioner Shane Colton said “we have to be sure we’re not leveraged int0 buying mineral rights.”