The property investment company poised to purchase Weyerhaeuser’s 630,000 acres of timberlands in Northwest Montana has yet to confirm or deny whether the company will participate in a program offered through Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks that would allow public access on the lands for hunting season.

Weyerhaeuser’s current agreement through the agency’s Block Management Program expires May 31. And according to Dillon Tabish, regional information and education program manager for FWP Region 1, the state agency has yet to hear from Southern Pine Plantations — the company expected to purchase the timberlands during the second quarter of 2020 — on whether they will continue to participate in the program.

“We look forward to a productive working relationship and partnership with Southern Pines,” Tabish said in an email on Tuesday. “We hope they understand Montana’s strong culture of providing access and the history of public access on these lands.”

Under Weyerhaeuser’s current agreement with FWP, the public can access about 590,000 acres of the timberlands for noncommercial recreation such as hunting, fishing, and camping. This current agreement has been in place since September 2019. Weyerhaeuser was one of about 1,200 landowners in the state to participate in the Block Management Program for Montana’s 2019 hunting season. Collectively, program participants offered varying levels of public access on more than 7 million acres.

In exchange for public access, FWP staff would help manage the owner’s lands and activities that take place on them. Landowner participation in the program is voluntary and every spring and summer the agency works to negotiate new agreements.

Block Management Program guides, according to FWP’s website, are made available on or before Aug. 15, annually. So even though Weyerhaeuser’s current agreement will expire in the coming months, Southern Pines still has time to come to a new agreement — something that would be favored by the wide majority of Montanans.

Since the sale was announced in December, many have speculated the Georgia-based Southern Pines, which says on its website the company specializes in “timberland investments with a focus on solutions that lead to a quick closing,” would close off public access.

The majority of the timberlands fill space between Kalispell and Libby. Not only has the large swath been a prime source for lumber throughout the decades, but local economies are also fueled by the thousands who flock to the area to take advantage of the area’s historical public access. Flathead County commissioners and city officials throughout the valley have been vocal about how the loss of public access on the timberlands might impact Flathead’s economy.

Any future uses of the land remain uncertain as both Weyerhaeuser and Southern Pines stay tight-lipped about details of the sale. However, in Weyerhaeuser’s December announcement of the sale, the timber giant’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Devin Stockfish, said its three Montana-based mills would not be impacted.

“Our manufacturing operations in Montana continue to deliver strong results,” he said in a prepared statement.

Reporter Kianna Gardner can be reached at 758-4407 or kgardner@dailyinterlake.com