State studies proposal for underwater logging

It's been in the works for about three years, but now the state is advancing a proposal for public review on a project that involves salvaging long-lost logs from the bottom of Somers Bay in Flathead Lake.

The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation is taking initial public input on the proposal from North Shore Development. What's next is an environmental assessment and ultimately a land-use permit for the logs to be salvaged from the state-owned lake bed.

North Shore initially proposed the salvage project around 2006 and received a permit to proceed from the state Department of Environmental Quality. But the project caught the attention of Natural Resources and Conservation officials who questioned the legal ownership of logs that were floated down the Flathead River into Somers Bay for milling in the early 1900s.

The DNRC asserted at one point that the logs had been abandoned, potentially making them state property, said Greg Poncin, Kalispell area manager for the state resource agency.

But Poncin added that North Shore Development "claimed a chain of title" involving the DeVoe family that stretched back to the DeVoe Lumber Co., the last of several ownerships to operate the mill on Somers Bay.

What followed was some lengthy legal haggling, including a District Court hearing, that resulted in a settlement agreement last October. North Shore is entitled to salvage logs that bear a "Circle N" stamp that was used to identify logs purchased by the mill.

"We acknowledge that the Circle N Brand is an indication of log ownership for the mill in Somers Bay," Poncin said. Under the agreement, North Shore would pay the state $21,000 a year for salvage rights.

The proposal calls for a land-use license that would allow North Shore Development to salvage in five-acre operating areas over a period of 10 years. The areas would be marked with highly visible buoys to indicate where salvage operations are underway.

Sunken logs would be individually lifted from the bottom of the lake by divers with the assistance of lift bags or cable winches.

The environmental assessment and project planning are being carried out by Northwest Management, a Helena-based forestry consulting firm.

Jim Cancroft, a spokesman for the firm, said the method in which logs would be hauled from the lake will be one of the issues addressed in the environmental assessment process, which will include more opportunities for public comment and at least one public meeting.

Divers have inspected logs on the lake bottom and some sonar work has been carried out, but it is 'really hard to say" exactly how much volume can be salvaged, Cancroft said. Some logs are stacked on each other and some are buried in silt.

Preliminary work was carried in 2006 with some logs extracted from the lake. The logs are mostly large-diameter ponderosa pine, Douglas fir and larch and are well-preserved because they have been deprived of oxygen.

"We've taken some and cut them into boards and they are fine," Cancroft said.

The current slump in lumber markets, however, is a problem that likely will delay salvage operations possibly into next year, Cancroft said.

"Right now [mills' aren't even buying them," he said. "There isn't a local conventional market."

But he said there may be a niche market for people who are interested in big Montana logs that were felled decades ago.

For more information on the project and how to comment, contact the DNRC's Kalispell area office at 751-2263. Comments will be accepted through Jan. 28.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com