Land Swap Faces Little Opposition Trade Would Consolidate Roadless Land On Upper St. Joe

A popular piece of hunting and fishing territory near North Idaho’s Red Ives Peak likely will switch from Plum Creek Timber Co.’s hands to U.S. Forest Service control sometime next year.

If it takes place, the Forest Service will end up consolidating 21,000 acres of roadless land in the Beaver Creek, Mosquito Creek and Fly Creek drainages. That’s a large chunk of some of the best streams and elk habitat in the upper St. Joe River basin.

The area is near the Idaho-Montana border, about 50 miles southeast of St. Maries.

It’s an idea everyone seems to love. In fact, the Forest Service has received no opposition, said Andy Schmidt, a forester with the St. Joe Ranger District.

“It’s a win-win situation for everyone,” said John Quigley of Plum Creek Timber Co.

David James, Spokane chapter president of Trout Unlimited, is equally effusive.

“The upper St. Joe is really one of the last places with a viable bull-trout population” in North Idaho, James said. It also is the best place in Eastern Washington, North Idaho and Western Montana to catch west slope cutthroat trout.

The proposed trade calls for the Forest Service to give Plum Creek 4,500 acres in the nearby Bluff Creek area. In return, the Forest Service would take over 6,900 acres of land in the upper St. Joe area.

Currently, every other section of land is private because of the land giveaway to railroads in the 1800s.

The federal agency also gets control of three parcels of riverfront property on the Little North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene, which is considered a prime candidate for Wild and Scenic River protection.

Conservationists and environmentalists see one small drawback. Plum Creek will end up with 500 acres of old growth trees in the trade. Even those uncomfortable with that don’t want to see it stop the deal.

If the land isn’t traded, Plum Creek has a virtually unstoppable right to build roads across Forest Service land and log the now virtually untouched area, the Forest Service pointed out. That could mean 57 miles of new logging road and logging on as much as 3,300 acres.

“No matter how you slice it, without a land swap, you end up with beaucoup miles of roads which is a big concern,” said Chip Corsi of the Idaho Fish and Game Department. “I think everyone is viewing it as a plus to preserve the area without breaking it up.”

Once the land is traded - which seems almost certain - disharmony may interrupt this consensus. The Forest Service proposes everything from no logging to taking as much as 7.4 million board feet off of 664 acres of land.

That logging requires 11 miles of new roads with stream crossings in areas where the soil is fairly prone to slide, the Fish and Game says. It also requires large logging units that would be hard on elk, not to mention everything from harlequin ducks to marten and wolverines.

“Roads increase the rates of runoff, increase the rates of erosion, elevate stream temperatures and widen and shallow main-stem rivers,” added James of Trout Unlimited.

Plum Creek isn’t taking a position on the logging. The Forest Service also doesn’t have a preferred plan.

Everyone else wants what’s being called Alternative Four. That calls for no logging, eliminating 5.3 miles of existing roads and replanting trees along stream banks.

Not logging does touch on some fire fears, acknowledges Corsi, of Fish and Game. The agency believes history shows there’s not a lot of need for panic.

“Sometime the area’s going to burn,” Corsi said. “The way we view it, these drainages were really singed in 1910, to the point they burned up the riparian zone.”

From looking at the area today, “indications are that watersheds recover more rapidly from fire than high road densities and big timber harvests,” Corsi said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: PUBLIC COMMENT Public comment on the proposed timber sale will be accepted until Dec. 31 and on the proposed land trade until Jan. 9. Comments can be directed to the St. Joe Ranger District, HC Box 1, Avery, ID 83802.