Field Reports: Fire threat closes private timberlands

FORESTS – More than a million acres of private timberlands are being temporarily closed to public access in the Inland northwest because of extreme fire danger.

  Stimson Lumber Company has closed public access to 350,000 acres in northeastern Washington, North Idaho and western Montana because of dry conditions.

“To my knowledge, this is the first time that we felt conditions were bad enough we had to close our lands,” said Barry Dexter, company spokesman.

Potlatch is closing all of its 791,000 acres in Idaho from the St. Maries area south to the Payette Valley starting Tuesday.

“Our concerns are growing as warm weather persists,” said spokesman Mark Benson.

The public generally has free access to most of Stimson’s lands while Potlatch has a fee permit program.

Stimson workers are trying to post closure signs where possible, but Dexter said the lands are scattered and it’s impossible to put signs or gates on most access points.

The public has a responsibility to know whose land they’re on, he said.

Gates block access to some lands, but the closure applies to walk-in entry as well as motor-vehicle use, Dexter said. Some contractors will be allowed access during the closure, he said.

“We’re trying to raise the level of awareness with the general public that things are really getting bad out there,” Dexter said. “A lot of the fires that have occurred over the last week or so have been human caused.

“Normally we don’t become too concerned about fires until August. Everything is a month early. We’re in for a long fire season.”

The land closure will continue as a fire prevention measure “until we get some good wetting rains and conditions change,” he said.

The company is running newspaper ads with a contact phone number, (208) 765-1414.

Weyerhaeuser closed its Oregon tree farms to the public on July 2 because of fire concerns.

Inland Empire Paper Co. has enacted “hoot owl” rules on its 117,000 acres in the region requiring wood cutting to be done in the morning and fire fighting gear be carried in vehicles.

“The best way to keep IEP lands open is by keeping it safe and keeping it green,” the website notice says.

Officials with Hancock Timber, which has 276,000 acres of former Boise-Cascade land in Idaho and 264,000 acres in Washington, would not comment on fire danger topics.

Meanwhile, all public land agencies in Idaho on Friday banned all campfires and enacted additional restrictions. Most of Washington public lands are restricted, too.

Salmon runs upgraded

FISHING – State fish managers this week upgraded the Columbia River summer chinook run to 100,000, which will be the largest since 1961.

The sockeye run has been upgraded to 480,000, the third largest on record.

Both species of salmon return to rivers in north-central Washington including the Okanogan and Wenatchee. Sockeye also return to the upper Salmon River basin in Idaho.

June big in Glacier

PARKS – The 414,000 visitors in Glacier National Park last month was up 24 percent and a record for June.