Greetings, Beacon Nation. I trust you all spent your weekends soaking up the golden overture to October. I’m Tristan Scott here to deliver your Monday omnibus of news and information, starting with a look at updated rules for recreating on private timberland in Haskill Basin.

The Whitefish City Council on Monday will consider a resolution formally recognizing a revised Open Lands Policy from F.H. Stoltze Land & Lumber Co. that shortens camping stays, restricts fires and shooting near authorized trails, and clarifies that bicycles are prohibited off existing roads in Haskill Basin, the watershed that supplies about 90% of the city’s drinking water.

According to a staff report from City Attorney Angela Jacobs, the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as increased visitation and a groundswell of new residents, has placed increasing pressure on recreational areas in the Flathead Valley, including Haskill Basin.

“While Stoltze has traditionally allowed dispersed recreation on its properties, it has experienced an increase in negative impacts to its conservation values in recent years, including trail-building and the use of non-motorized transportation off-road,” Jacobs said in her report included in the city council’s agenda for its Oct. 5 meeting.

The updated policy clarifies that off-road trails are not allowed. It bars shooting within a quarter mile of authorized trailheads, access points or established trail corridors, and prohibits fires from May 1 to Oct. 1. Pets must be under owner control at all times, and the maximum camping stay drops from seven days to three.

The existing policy already prohibits biking on user-built trails, some of which have existed in the basin for decades. The update clarifies that the restriction applies to all areas off existing road systems.

Haskill Basin not only provides more than 90% of the city’s water supply, but it also stands out as a working forest managed by Stoltze Land & Lumber Company, the family-owned company that for more than a century has logged the land while allowing both public access and permitting the city to maintain its two water intakes.

Stoltze owns roughly 3,020 acres in the basin, which is protected by a conservation easement the city and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks bought in 2016 with money from a resort tax increase voters approved in 2015. The city attorney’s report says the easement already gives Stoltze broad authority to regulate public use, but the company wants the city to recognize the new policy as an update to the easement’s Multi-Resource Management Plan “in the interests of educating the public and transparency.” City staff says adopting the resolution carries no financial impact.

The company has long allowed dispersed recreation on its land, but the report cites a recent increase in trail-building and off-road bicycle use that it says harms conservation values. Cameron Wohlschlegel, Stoltze’s land and resource manager, told the Beacon last year that the problems include “building illegal trails, ripping down gates, cutting down trees, dumping garbage,” adding that “it’s a privilege to access our property, not a right.”

“Our lands have been open for over 100 years via neighborly accommodation to the public,” Wohlschlegel told the Beacon last year, adding that the company has seen “more of a disregard for our rules” in recent years.

As Stoltze grows increasingly exasperated with scofflaws, its revised policy is aimed at curbing violations without closing the gates on public access. If broader public compliance doesn’t soon follow, however, I wouldn’t be surprised to see additional restrictions or closures, which would be a major loss of access for this community.

That’s it from me. Happy trails (so long as they’re established). Here’s the rest of the Daily Roundup.