Potlatch opens up land to the public

By RALPH BARTHOLDT

Staff Writer

For more than a decade, the state’s largest private owner of timberland has required hunters and anglers to pay for recreational access to its land.

That’s coming to an end.

Beginning this month, PotlatchDeltic will allow the public free access to its land as part of an agreement with Idaho Fish and Game.

“We’ve set aside 567,000 acres of our land to ensure free public access to hunt and fish and hike,” spokeswoman Anna Torma said. “It’s a significant part of our Idaho acreage.”

PotlatchDeltic, which changed its name from Potlatch after acquiring Arkansas-based Deltic Timber Co. last year, and which owns 629,000 acres in the Gem State — or nearly 1,000 square miles — has charged hunters and anglers for access since 2007.

The bulk of its timberlands is in the Clearwater and Panhandle regions, which include Benewah, Clearwater, Idaho, Latah and Shoshone counties.

Craig Wicks, the owner of Blue Goose Sporting Goods in St. Maries, in Benewah County, posted the news of the latest agreement between Fish and Game and the timber company on his business’s social media page as soon as he heard about it Monday.

The agreement should make his customers happy, he said.

“It’s good,” Wicks said. “It makes sure sportsmen have access to the land as long as they follow the rules.”

As the gateway to the St. Joe River country, Blue Goose supplies hunters and anglers headed to the backcountry where checkerboard land ownership is common.

That patchwork of property boundaries can lead to inadvertent trespassing. Under the new agreement, hikers, anglers and hunters won’t need to pay — or to fear Potlatch’s security guards.

The deal calls for Fish and Game to pay $1 per acre each year for at least three years, or almost $600,000 annually, to allow the public to use the Potlatch land. Access includes hunting, fishing, trapping, wildlife viewing, hiking and recreational travel limited to motor vehicles on its main roads, according to Fish and Game. Restrictions on camping and ATV use may apply.

Fish and Game said a separate agreement with Stimson Lumber Co., Hancock Forest Management and the Molpus Woodlands Group, which would allow public access to another 300,000 acres in Bonner, Boundary, Benewah, Shoshone and Kootenai counties, is expected to be finalized next month.

The agreements are part of the latest Fish and Game land-lease program that targets large tracts of private land, unlike the smaller parcels in its AccessYes! program.

The funds for the leases come from a surcharge Fish and Game began collecting two years ago. Idaho residents who buy a hunting or fishing license pay $5, nonresidents pay $10.

Potlatch had allowed free public access to its forest land until the mid-2000s, but spokesmen said vandalism, dumping and the destruction of its plantations by the public was becoming overly burdensome. Around the same time the company began marketing its land as a real estate trust while also taking advantage of a growing market for outdoor recreation.

The company will still reserve some of its land for special campsite leases. Other paid uses will include ATV use, camping and firewood cutting, Torma said.

Passenger vehicle permits are no longer required. Anyone who bought one will receive a refund, she said.