Weyerhaeuser has issued a policy change in response to outcry over its fee for access system. Its solution was to raise prices.
Last year, access permits to Weyerhaeuser land cost $160, but this year that price has nearly doubled to $300. A corresponding change is that the permits will now be valid all year, rather than from just August through January. Previously, the permits were typically used by hunters in the fall and early winter, but the new year-round program will open the woods to all comers, including families, so long as they cough up the money to be there.
The $300 family access permit will allow individuals or family groups to drive their vehicles beyond locked gates and camp for up to 10 days in one spot. Walk-in visitors and those using mountain bikes or riding horses can obtain an access permit for $50.
The family access pass will cover the permit holder and his or her spouse as well as children and grandchildren under 18 years of age. That means that a group of five unrelated hunting buddies would be forced to fork over $1,500 for the right to camp in the woods together. The fees could similarly turn exorbitant for non-traditional families seeking some solace in the outdoors.
Up until 2014, access to Weyerhauser’s vast holdings was free for all. Alleged issues with vandalism and garbage dumping prompted the timber company to lock the gates on the majority of its most popular roads that year. That policy change was unpopular at the time, and the newest rendition of the requirement doesn’t seem to be any more of a crowd pleaser.
“It’s really getting out of hand,” said Larry F. Smith, secretary-treasurer of the Cowlitz Basin ORV Club. “We’re losing our freedoms in our country left and right.”
Smith added that, “Weyerhaeuser used to say ‘welcome hunters’ and we used to go out there and camp and hunt and fish and then they started charging. That was back when they needed the timber cut and the logging was going full bore.”
Now though, “with the hoof rot on the elk and the hair loss on the deer, it really isn’t worth it to me,” said Smith.
Adding to Smith’s consternation is the fact that the timber company does not allow ATVs or snowmobiles to access its property at all.
The year-round permits and 10-day limits on camps indicate a fundamental shift away from the primary goal of hunter access in years past, some say. Hunting camps traditionally set up and hold down the fort in one location for the entirety of either deer and elk season, if not both. The new regulation will force hunting groups to move numerous times during the season. However, in recent years Weyerhaeuser had only allowed camping on leased land, which can cost thousands of dollars.
While some folks have lauded the permit system because of the decrease in backwoods crowding, others have decried the system as unfair to working class people who cannot afford the fees. Others have pointed out that the locked gates have only served to make the easily accessible areas exponentially more crowded as outdoors enthusiasts are funneled to fewer and fewer locations. Additionally, snowshoers will now need to purchase walk-in permits in order to access many popular areas, including lands around Spirit Lake Highway heading toward Mount St. Helens.
On the other hand, Weyerhaeuser will continue to allow free walk-in access on the 3100 road that leads to the Mount St. Helens Wildlife Area in the Toutle River Valley, as well as free driving access on the 1900, 4100 and 8050 roads.
According to Smith from the Cowlitz Basin ORV club, the runaway fees for access to traditionally open timberlands would cease if people had the fortitude to refrain from paying them for a few years. “They’re just going to push it and push it,” said Smith. “If you let them do it, they’re going to do it to you.
As frequently happens when speaking with outdoors enthusiasts about the issue, Smith said that Weyerhaeuser has long been granted tax breaks by the state based on the premise that they provide public access to their holdings. The way Smith and many outdoorsmen of his ilk see it, the new fee system is a blatant breach of that agreement.
“Why should we have to pay to go out there?” asked Smith. “If (the state) took that tax break away they’d be happy to let us out there to use their roads and their land. They get that big tax break and we don’t get anything.”
Permits for the 380,000 acres of Weyerhaeuser holdings east of Interstate 5 between Longview and Mount St. Helens will go on sale on June 10 and permits for Weyerhaeuser land west of I-5 are already available. For more information on fees and access issues visit the Weyerhasuer website at https://www.wyrecreationnw.com/.
