Tag Archives: F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber

Trumbull Creek conservation easement finalized

Environmental Issues, News, ,

Congratulations to everyone, including the Stoltze company, who worked to make this happen . . .

A $9.5 million, 7,068-acre conservation easement has been finalized for the Trumbull Creek area north of Columbia Falls, the Trust for Public Land and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Park announced Friday.

The land-use agreement for the property, owned by Stoltze Land & Lumber Co., permanently bars commercial and residential development, while allowing timber management and public recreational use to continue. Stoltze contributed to the cost of the easement by donating a portion of the land value. The majority of the $9.5 million came from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, Forest Legacy Program and Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund.

“It really has high resource values,” Trust for Public Land Northern Rockies Director Dick Dolan said in an interview. He added that the land includes grizzly bear and Canadian lynx habitat, and serves as the headwaters for bull trout spawning areas.

Read more . . .

Home Ground Radio interviews Headwaters Montana and Stoltze Lumber

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From Dave Hadden at Headwaters Montana . . .

If you’re a regular listener and donor to Montana Public Radio, then you’re familiar with the voice of Brian Kahn, the host and producer of “Home Ground Radio.”  Brian sat down with Paul McKenzie and me to discuss the challenges and successes of finding common ground on national forest management issues.

The interview aired on MTPR last Sunday, May 29, but is available for your listening pleasure anytime by clicking here.

In typical Home Ground Radio style, Brian led the conversation from introductions to a ‘take home message.’

Paul McKenzie works for Stoltze Land and Lumber Company in Columbia Falls, Montana, as the land and resource manager.  It’s been my pleasure to get to know Paul as a sincere, intelligent and committed individual who cares deeply about the forest resources he manages and the people employed at Stoltze’s lumber mill.

Paul and I have sat across the table from one another for several years now as part of the Whitefish Range Partnership, and Kootenai Forest Stakeholder Coalition’s Common Ground” committee.

These conversations have been joined by many other individuals representing other constituencies.  The conversations haven’t always been easy.  However, they have been necessary. Continue reading Home Ground Radio interviews Headwaters Montana and Stoltze Lumber →

Haskill Basin conservation easement completed

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Good news for Whitefish: The Haskill Basin conservation easement is a done deal . . .

For years, conservation groups and city officials have recognized the development pressure that could bear down on Haskill Basin, a block of land east of Whitefish owned by F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber Co.

And for years, those concerns were quelled by a good-faith agreement with the Stoltze family, who for more than a century has maintained its commitment to managing the Haskill parcel as a working forest, rather than leveraging it into a revenue-rich development deal.

On Wednesday, that handshake deal was inked into the history books as Whitefish city officials, along with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Stoltze, and the nonprofit Trust for Public Land, finalized an agreement to furnish permanent protections on 3,020 acres of land in the Haskill Creek watershed.

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LWCF passes; Trumbull Creek conservation deal looks good

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Looks like the Trumbull Creek land deal is a go . . .

A large land conservation deal northwest of Columbia Falls will benefit from passage of the Land, Water and Conservation Fund.

The fund uses off shore oil and gas lease revenue for conservation projects across the U.S. Congress extended the measure for three years when it passed a massive budget bill just before the holidays. Nationwide, Congress appropriated about $450 million to the fund.

Montana’s largest LWCF project this year is the Trumbull Creek conservation easement with F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber Co. The Trumbull Creek easement is a $9.5 million deal, with $6.5 million from the Forest Legacy program, $2 million from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Habitat Conservation Plan program and $1 million from private donations.

Read more . . .

Stoltze conservation plan to be presented April 28

Environmental Issues, News,

If you’ve an interest in the proposed conservation  easements on Stoltze Lumber land in the Haskill Creek and Trumbull Creek drainages, there’s a open house next week to discuss them . . .

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks will hold an open house in Columbia Falls to take preliminary public input on two proposed conservation easement projects on lands owned by the F.H. Stoltze Land & Lumber Co.

The open house will take place at the Columbia Falls Fire Hall, 624 First Avenue West, on Tuesday, April 28, from 7 to 9 p.m.

Personnel from FWP, Stoltze and The Trust for Public Land will be on hand to discuss the proposed projects, answer questions and gather issues, concerns or ideas raised by the public, adjoining landowners, and any other interested people.

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U.S. FWS awards $2M for easement on grizzly & lynx habitat on Stoltze land

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This short write-up on the acquisition of a conservation easement on F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber land belies a great deal of behind the scenes work over the past few years . . .

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has awarded the state of Montana $2 million to aid in the acquisition of a conservation easement on Haskill Basin near Whitefish.

The 3,000-acre-plus property, located next to Whitefish Mountain Resort, is the source of 75 percent of Whitefish’s municipal water supply and vital habitat for grizzly bears and Canada lynx.

F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber Co. owns the property.

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