Potlatch revises visitor rules

LEWISTON – Outdoor enthusiasts can continue to visit Potlatch Corp.’s 670,000 acres of timberland in northern Idaho, but they must adhere to a new company policy that says tread lightly.

And the Spokane-based company has hired patrols to watch the woods and gauge how many people travel there.

Stephen H. Smith, resource manager in Lewiston, said the wood and paper company will continue its long tradition of allowing people to visit its land.

“We are going to start managing, I think, in a very positive way,” he said.

In the past, the company has allowed people to hike, hunt, pick berries, camp, fish and ride off-highway vehicles on its land. But there has not been much formal oversight there.

The new guidelines include respecting road closures, staying out of sensitive streamside areas and obeying state and federal laws.

“It’s not acceptable any longer not to manage public use,” Smith said.

Potlatch has contracted with a company to begin security patrols. The officers are mostly retired law enforcement personnel. They will also interview people they encounter to measure how many are using its land and what they are doing.

“Right now, I can’t tell you if we have 1,000 people, 10,000 or 100,000 people out there recreating,” Smith said.

The “customer service patrols” are not police officers, said Shelly Tschida, who owns Quality Services, the company doing the patrols. If problems require more attention, the appropriate authorities are called, she said.

She said the patrols’ main work thus far has been attempting to stop mud-bogging near the Palouse River. Mud-bogging is driving through muddy meadows or roads with four-wheel-drive vehicles.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game said the patrols will help them keep an eye out for poachers.