Roads concern commissioners

Representatives from the Plum Creek Timber Company and the Forest Service met with the Mineral County Commissioners Wednesday afternoon to discuss concerns that an amendment in road easement language could open Plum Creek land up for development.

According to a letter from the county commissioners to Montana’s U.S. congressional representatives, Plum Creek and the Forest Service altered road easements on Plum Creek property to allow full use for any purpose, as opposed to timber-only use. The change was made without consulting county governments and put local officials across western Montana up in arms.

Tom Suk, who works in Missoula for the Washington Forest Service Office, said at the meeting Wednesday that the change in road easement language only clarified existing policy and did not give Plum Creek any more rights. Suk said Plum Creek has always treated the easements as full use.

“The easement language back then was not as specific as it should be,” said Suk. “We decided that it would be more efficient and more effective to deal with it in one fell swoop.”

Since it was a legal issue, Plum Creek representative Jerry Sorenson said they didn’t believe consultations with county were necessary.

“What this really does is it clarifies and it defines the obligations of the parties involved in these easements,” added Suk.

Mineral County Commissioner Judy Stang said that she was concerned that the changes in the easements would allow more residences in the far reaches of Mineral County, burdening the county’s emergency services.

“When it starts being residential, there are going to be a whole lot of people living up there and they’re not going to call you or you or you,” she said, speaking to the Plum Creek and Forest Service representatives. “They’re going to call the county.”

Sorenson said Plum Creek could build houses with or without the language change.

“These roads aren’t for controlling land use,” Sorenson said.

Stang said commissioners were not trying to control what Plum Creek did with their land but wanted to make sure their concerns were discussed.

“We realize that you’re a private land owner but we just want to be part of the solution,” Stang said.

The commissioners’ letter also took issue with comments made by U.S. Undersecretary of Agriculture Mark Rey. The commissioners wrote that they were “taken aback by the unveiled arrogance evident in some of the public statements relative to the issue made by the Undersecretary of Agriculture” and called them “not a good foundation for cooperation.”

Suk told the commissioners that Rey had virtually no involvement with the road easement change and was speaking largely out of turn.

“Mark Rey had very little to do with this,” Suk said.

Wednesday’s meeting was part of a series of discussions being held with county commissioners throughout western Montana to talk about the changes in Plum Creek road easements. Plum Creek owns 1.3 million acres of land in Montana and is the largest private landowner in the nation.