Easements in the Spotlight, As Colorado Forests Go Residential

9 June 2008 - 6:00am

As logging declines in Colorado forests, developers are preparing to build in pockets wedged in-between parkland. The proper use of historic easements is at the center of the debate.

"If land ownership could be seen from the air, western Montana would look like a checkerboard: Parcels of national forest alternate with 1.2 million acres of private land, grants made to railroads in the late 1800s. Those grant lands are now part of the 8 million acres owned nationwide by Seattle-based Plum Creek Timber Company.

With logging in decline, Plum Creek sees its future in real estate. Last year, land sales made up about one-quarter of company revenues. But Plum Creek has a problem: It’s not clear whether the company’s customers can legally access their Montana properties over national forest roads.

For decades, the company has held easements on national forest roads that allow it to haul timber, but the question is whether those easements automatically permit residential access as well. Montana counties and conservation groups say they don’t."

Source: High Country News, June 6, 2008
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The increased attention to matters of urban design has forced the field to become alert to more aspects of the social and natural sciences, to transportation and civil engineering, water and waste management, zoning and public policy, and other areas earlier considered largely the responsibility of others.