Hunters discuss public access on MKH lands

Losing the privilege to hunt on property that has become your favorite spot over the years stings. Big time!

But to find out the morning of opening day when you drive to the gate and your headlights glare onto signs reading "No Trespassing" is confusing at first but seconds later, cuss words erupt.

MKH Montana's Mineral County lands had been removed from block management the end of May and many hunters were surprised to see this on Saturday, Oct. 22. Prior to that it belonged to Plum Creek, Weyerhaeuser and Southern Pine Plantations.

A big reason the "no trespassing" signs were placed on the property lines was because people had been cutting off the MKH Montana locks and then installing their own locks.

“These are good people and it’s not to our advantage to post negative comments about them or vandalize their property as we are working toward and hoping for a land transfer so everyone can use the land,” said Cody Carr, owner of Cody Carr’s Hunting Adventures in Plains.

Carr and his wife KoLiss, spoke to a group inside Superior Meats to expel rumors, answer questions and bring people up to speed about the changes.

“Obviously, there’s a lot of talk going around, and I just want to make it clear of what we have done and we’re not hiding anything so you guys can actually trust us,” explained KoLiss.

As it stands today, Cody Carr is clearing roads on the MKH properties in Mineral County, and in exchange, he is allowed to take his customers hunting on those MKH parcels.

The majority of MKH lands are still in Block Management with FWP, and everyone wants to keep that relationship going. Carr and KoLiss say they are birddogging to find buyers who will turn the Mineral County parcels in question back into Block Management public access.

“My number one goal with taking the offer to clear roads was not to lose access for mountain lion, bear and wolf hunt in Mineral County this year. I could care less about elk and deer hunting this season as the real issue is turning this from private to public. We’ve harvested one elk and one deer this year in Mineral County on MKH land,” said Cody.

“We did have it for archery season as well, but we did zero hunting there,” KoLiss chimed in.

Block Management reimburses private landowners up to $25,000 a year to allow the public to hunt. Not every landowner has the same plan, so reimbursement rates vary but prior owners of this property felt it worked for them and hunters have been fortunate as the total amount of MKH Montana land was over 24,000 acres in the two counties.

“Mineral County has 7,711 acres and in Sanders County it’s down to about 10,000 to 11,000 acres, I believe, as this is private property and it is for sale and it is selling,” said Carr. “The discussion is to find a buyer and hopefully the state or DNRC purchases the land and puts it back into public use.”

Trust for Public Lands dropped the Plains tract this summer as it did not meet the criteria for the Forest Service. The Forest Service isn’t interested in Mineral and Sanders counties, but they are looking at purchasing MKH property in Missoula County because there are more people that would recreate on it.

The state is one option to purchase the land.

Rep. Denley Loge and Block Management participant since its inception over 25 years ago made mention that he had talked with the director at FWP, and they didn’t see that they had funds for something like this.

“They tend to hold out for Wildlife Management Areas with money like that and this (property) may not rate high enough that criteria.”

Carr has found out that proof of support is what is needed for a government agency to consider purchasing the remaining MKH property and finagle it back into the hands of the public.

Zach Whipple-Kilmer, an outdoorsman and owner of Limberlost Brewing Company in Thompson Falls, has been following the MKH properties since they sold their Northwest Montana timberlands in 2020. Whipple-Kilmer helped to broker a 48,000 acre conservation easement on the Thompson River with FWP and Green Diamond Resource Company where Green Diamond gave up their development rights and their property would be opened to public access, logging, grazing and would continue to pay taxes to Sanders County, forever.

He heard about the Trust for Public Lands/Forest Service deal in early 2021 and learned over the summer that the deal had fallen through. He then began alerting people in Plains and he put a website together (Wildhorse Plains Public Access Project www.plainspublicaccess.org) so people could be aware of what was happening in their backyard.

Whipple-Kilmer has had interest from the state and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and has obtained signed letters of support from county commissioners in Sanders County as the momentum builds.

According to Carr, they need city officials, legislators, law enforcement, hunters, trappers, hikers, shed hunters, wild mushroom enthusiasts, bird watching organizations, etc. to email Ryan Weiss who is the bureau chief: Real Estate Management/Trust Lands Division with the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.

Weiss and Deidra Kloberdanz (Lands Section Supervisor for the state DNRC) continue looking into the state possibly purchasing the MKH lands.

“The conversation I had with Ryan was that he needed letters from those wanting to get this land back into the public use system. He needs to show that there are a bunch of people interested in this land being purchased by the state,” said Carr.

He then made a call to Michael Freeman, who sits directly under the governor as Natural Resource Policy Advisor and the instructions were almost verbatim encouraging his office to be inundated with calls, email and letters showing support.

Carr and Zach-Whipple are holding a meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 6 p.m. at the Sanders County Fair Pavilion to educate and bring attention to the issue. They hope to get as many county commissioners as possible, government officials, legislators, business owners and public to the meeting to bring awareness to the issue at hand.