Erickson seeks new hillside road

Marvin Erickson wants to build another road on Canfield Mountain but says it wouldn’t be visible from Coeur d’Alene.

Erickson asked Kootenai County this week for a permit to cut a road, between 14 feet and 16 feet wide. The new segment would connect two existing logging roads on 28 acres off of Thomas Lane.

Kootenai County Planning Director Rand Wichman said the request is still under review.

The property is just south of land Erickson logged last summer and is part of the 136 acres where Erickson and his business partners have proposed three developments that would put about 30 new homes on the hillside.

The new road would allow better access to the property so Erickson can get equipment on the hillside to dig test holes for potential septic sites and to drill some wells, he said.

There are no current plans to log the property, which was cut heavily about 10 years ago.

Opponents to any development on Canfield Mountain, which is considered a local landmark, are critical of Erickson’s past logging operations and the notorious Z-shaped driveway he carved into the mountainside to access his home.

Erickson said he logged the northern part of the property last summer to combat a fungus in the soil that is killing Canfield Mountain’s fir trees by causing root rot.

He said he plans to reforest the hillside and has ordered 2,000 pine trees that he intends to plant this spring.

“I have no guilty conscience because I’ve never done anything I’m ashamed of,” Erickson said.

“There’s an explanation for everything going on up here. People don’t know what it is or take the time to find out the facts before they attack me.”