Free: Contests & Raffles.
Quote from: OutHouse on June 10, 2019, 12:57:39 PMAll I can say as have others is read the easement carefully. If it is only for the grantee that excludes everyone else. County auditor is a good place to start but you will need the filing number. If you have the parcel number that you want to cross you could have a title company give you all easements or records affecting the parcel. You may want to ask them for any and all plat maps that have been filed with the county. These plat maps can also contain and/or create easements designated thereon. If you see an easement analyze the language carefully and sometimes there will be further language affecting the easement in the fine print on the right side of the plat map. Be wary of "for ingress and egress" as that may not include the public. The most clear language I have seen is "public access easement".Nothing I have run into says the easement is for public access specifically. However, I have found one county easement to public land "for all road purposes" that is posted and closed. Most of the language says "the easements are conveyed for the purposes of reconstruction, use, and maintenance of said existing roads for the purpose of providing access to and from lands now owned or hereafter acquired by the parties hereto." The parties being the state of Washington and a timber company. These easements are also described as permanent, divisible, and non-exclusive". I concede that the STATE can limit who uses their easement, and how it is used, but if the state decides that the public can use it, say for walk in access to state land, I don't see how the timber co. can legally object. After all, the shoe is already on the other foot, and timber companies are selling access on these same roads to their permit holders, who then can drive through or to state land on these roads. Why doesn't the state enjoy the same rights? The official line I've gotten from the DNR so far is that it is a "grey area".
All I can say as have others is read the easement carefully. If it is only for the grantee that excludes everyone else. County auditor is a good place to start but you will need the filing number. If you have the parcel number that you want to cross you could have a title company give you all easements or records affecting the parcel. You may want to ask them for any and all plat maps that have been filed with the county. These plat maps can also contain and/or create easements designated thereon. If you see an easement analyze the language carefully and sometimes there will be further language affecting the easement in the fine print on the right side of the plat map. Be wary of "for ingress and egress" as that may not include the public. The most clear language I have seen is "public access easement".
In fact, one buddy in DNR told me they have to ask permission and meet a timber land owner / employee to be let past a gate for timber grading.
Quote from: Goshawk on June 10, 2019, 09:49:21 PM In fact, one buddy in DNR told me they have to ask permission and meet a timber land owner / employee to be let past a gate for timber grading. You'd think they would have keys and an easement
It makes me sad that this has become such a pay-to-win sport. I just got into it, but my grandpa hunted most of his life and was very poor when he did so, but was able to harvest deer and elk reliably. Now I feel like this is on its way to being a sport for the rich.
I know that in Lewis County there are several choice slices of DNR land that are indeed land locked and unassailable to the public. In fact, one buddy in DNR told me they have to ask permission and meet a timber land owner / employee to be let past a gate for timber grading.Our DNR really screwed the public out of some very good lands here in Western Washington.
Are we making progress? I don't know if this is just a coincidence or the influence of folk like us digging into the issue, but it appears Weyco land tied up with state land just got enrolled in feel free to hunt. Anyone have details about this land? How was it managed beforehand?From WDFW bi-weekly wildlife report:"Private Lands Access Agreement: Wildlife Conflict Specialist/Private Lands Biologist Jacobsen met with representatives from Weyerhaeuser Company to enroll 6,638 acres of land in Wahkiakum County in WDFW’s Feel Free to Hunt access program. The majority of this land isadjacent to land owned by Washington state, and will be an invaluable addition of land open to public hunting."
So more digging leads to more information. Right now the timber companies are claiming that all their easements with the DNR for all time were only for land management and administrative purposes. That just ain't so. In fact, the OPPOSITE is true. The easements started off MORE restricted then became wide open, before switching back to the restricted language. This was a deliberate change.This happened in mid-1967. Before that date (at least for Weyco) most easements had a purpose for "land management and administrative use"; for a decade after mid-1967 the easements purpose was for access "to and from" lands of the parties. There is no way that this wasn't intentionally done to open up the roads to more potential uses. Side by side, nearly every other word of the easements is the same. Proof positive that these roads were intentionally open to all "to and from" uses. Unfortunately, if you run into a pre-1967 easement, chances are that it is more restrictive than a post-1967 easement.
Quote from: fireweed on June 14, 2019, 08:45:30 AMAre we making progress? I don't know if this is just a coincidence or the influence of folk like us digging into the issue, but it appears Weyco land tied up with state land just got enrolled in feel free to hunt. Anyone have details about this land? How was it managed beforehand?From WDFW bi-weekly wildlife report:"Private Lands Access Agreement: Wildlife Conflict Specialist/Private Lands Biologist Jacobsen met with representatives from Weyerhaeuser Company to enroll 6,638 acres of land in Wahkiakum County in WDFW’s Feel Free to Hunt access program. The majority of this land isadjacent to land owned by Washington state, and will be an invaluable addition of land open to public hunting."I just went on the OnX app and clicked on most of the parcels in Wahkiakum county adjacent to the WA State land and I don't see anything labeled as Weyerhaueuser. Am I missing something? Most of them are showing the names of other timber holdings or some insurance companies. This thread is really interesting. I happened to listen to the MeatEater podcast talking about this issue recently also.