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Land Board approves Northlake timber sale, Valley County home-site minimum and seven easements
Summary
The Land Board approved three DNRC action items: the Northlake Timber Sale, a minimum bid for a Valley County home site, and a seven-easement package affecting eight counties; DNRC said the timber sale is expected to generate roughly $151,216 for the trust and $29,318 in forest improvement fees.
The Land Board voted to approve three Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) items at its meeting, including a timber sale near Whitefish, a minimum-bid designation for a nominated Valley County home site, and a package of seven easements affecting multiple counties.
The board's director presented action item 0724-1, the Northlake Timber Sale, saying the project lies about seven miles northwest of Whitefish and includes three tractor-logging harvest units with an estimated harvest volume of 5,966 tons of sawlogs. The DNRC director told the board the minimum bid is $25.36 per ton and that the sale would generate approximately $151,216 for the trust and about $29,318 in forest improvement fees. "The estimated harvest volume is 5,966 tons of sawlogs," the director said.
After no public comment, a board member moved to approve item 0724-1 and the motion passed by voice vote; the transcript records two explicit "aye" responses but does not provide a roll-call tally.
The board then approved action item 0724-2, a request to set a minimum bid for a cabin/home site nominated for sale in Valley County as part of the 2022–2023 cabin/home-site sale program. DNRC noted preliminary land board approval had been granted in December 2022. A motion to approve 0724-2 passed by voice vote; two explicit "aye" responses are recorded in the transcript.
DNRC also presented action item 0724-3, a seven-easement package affecting Fergus, Flathead, Granite, Hill, Powell, Richland, Stillwater and Valley counties. DNRC reported the total easement package value at $38,346 and said the easements will benefit common schools and the public land trust; the package covers buried fiber optic cable, highway and bridge construction and maintenance, private access, a buried petroleum pipeline, and buried electric distribution. The board approved the easement package by voice vote; the transcript records at least one explicit "aye" but no roll-call tally for all members.
The transcript does not specify individual roll-call tallies beyond the recorded vocalizations. Following passage of the items, the board moved on to an informational presentation on DNRC's improvement-settlement process for agriculture and grazing leases.
Actions recorded in the meeting transcript: 0724-1 (Northlake Timber Sale) — approved; 0724-2 (Valley County cabin/home site minimum bid) — approved; 0724-3 (seven easements) — approved.
(Reporter note: the DNRC was identified in the meeting transcript as "DNRC." The transcript did not provide a full spelled-out agency name or a meeting date.)
