Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Class 10 Eligibility topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Advisory committee reviews Class 10 eligibility, stocking rules after landowners raise concerns
Summary
Committee members and private landowners pressed the Department of Revenue on Class 10 eligibility criteria — including a 15-acre minimum, a 100-board-feet-per-acre productivity threshold and a 12x12 stocking rule — and urged consideration of changes that would avoid forcing replanting patterns that increase fire risk.
State property-assessment staff and committee members reviewed the statutory and administrative criteria used to classify private land as Class 10 forest land and heard multiple landowners say those rules can conflict with fire-risk reduction and local market realities.
"In order to qualify as Class 10 forest land property ... it has to have merchantable tree species on it," Peter Kolb, a private forest landowner and MSU Extension forestry specialist, said during the meeting. He and other landowners pressed the committee about how noncommercial or conservation-focused stands (for example, aspen groves) are treated when species lack a market outlet.
Department staff outlined eligibility rules: parcels must be at least 15 contiguous acres under a single ownership, have at least 10% crown cover, and meet a minimum productivity threshold of 100 board feet per acre to qualify as Class 10. Staff emphasized classification is based on potential productivity, not necessarily current harvest activity.
Landowners and extension staff said some eligible parcels are being reclassified locally as underutilized or agricultural land because they do not meet a stocking metric applied by assessors, a change that can trigger a county-level reappraisal that owners avoid. "The easiest solution would just change the 12 by 12 foot stocking level to an 18 by 18 or 20 by 20 foot spot stocking level, which is consistent with fire hazard reduction guidelines," Peter Kolb said.
Paula Gilbert, who identified herself as an administrator with the property assessment division, clarified that the local county assessor offices are part of the same state Property Assessment Division and invited landowners to seek direct assistance on parcel reviews and classification questions.
The committee agreed to collect more feedback on whether stocking requirements create recurring barriers for forest land classification and to include the stocking-rate issue on a future agenda. Staff also committed to send valuation manuals and reports that explain the appeals and productivity-contest process and to coordinate a short review of zone maps before the next major calculation cycle.
The meeting did not change statutory thresholds; any modifications to stocking, productivity or minimum-area rules would require follow-up analysis, rulemaking or legislative action.
