land issue in northern MN

[scott_l]

Hello all below is a link to a promo clip on a story that will be airing tonight on channel 5 at 10:00 (in the twin cites of MN) the news story is supposed to be on a large land issue in northern MN.

I can not confirm but I heard it regarding the Molpus property.

Possibly closing the land to all recreational property.

If you belong to a club and have all your club members email address you might want to pass the word on as well (no idea what will be in the story or not).



http://www.kstp.com/article/12303/?vid=3957471&v=1

 

[skidont]

I believe I heard it has something to do with the state wanting to jerk them around on property taxes which doesnt surprise me

 

[clark_w]

Not being familiar to the area but just returning from a trip to the Lake Vermilion Area, what area will this effect?

 

[scott_l]

Skidont I believe you are correct......from what I heard I believe this land has been receiving some tax credits but all of a sudden MN said no more tax credits so the owners of the land are playing hard ball and saying OK no more access to the public. Again I don't know if that is correct or not, hopefully the story well get into that tonight.

Clark I believe this would affect that area.....I also heard this would affect 25 different trails (partially or directly).

 

[clark_w]

Thanks Scott,
OK, now that would suck....

 

[bearrassler]

There was a thread on this issue back in September, a couple of legislatures got a reprieve for this season, I suppose the season is about over so they are looking at it for the future. It would be tough on the Ash River, Cook,and Orr areas.

 

[oldguy]

The issue is a little bit more complicated then the state jerking the land owner around. Molpus paper purchased the land last summer, knowing that the governor Pawlenty administration cut out 2 million in tax credits on the land they just purchased. Molpus decided to buy it anyway and put up the land as hostage to get the credits back.

Some of the Molpus land will still be available for public use. The land that will be most effected will be on the Arrowhead Trail and around the Crane Lake Ash River area. Tonight Steve, the owner of the Ash Trail Lodge will be on channel 5 to talk about it.

 

[skidont]

This could get ugly . If the land is being used for business is one thing if it is just sitting there and not supporting a business or the economy they should be paying taxes , How does the state sell this much land without thinking this stuff thru

 

[alwaysright]

The story that aired last night can also be found, not only could they lock out snowmobilers but also land owners who are land-locked by the corp land.

under the link above click on a video titled "timber company threatens to close land"

 

[scott_l]

it was good that some one did a story on this issue but it would have been nice if more questions would have been asked/answered. When the story ended the nightly news anchor person (can't remember his name that also did the story) made a comment about the land owners that might become land locked. Molpus said they would be willing to work something out with the private lands owners to allow access to their private property for a FEE. I wounder if these land owners that might become land locked knew before they purchased the property that all the land around them was private property? But now that I type that someone above said all that land used to be owned by the state. So the state sold the land and now these private property owners have to deal with access issues. Wow what a mess!

 

[xcr440]

It sounded like Molpus representatives wanted to work out a deal. The land WAS getting $2M in tax breaks, but changes lowered it to $100K.

Though I don't feel much sympathy for corporate company Molpus, I understand how greasing the wheels at the capital seems to happen with most every issue like this. I wonder if a deal can be made, to keep it open to public use, keep local businesses receiving the tourism they desparately need, and get Molpus off their threat on this land closure/fee usage non-sense.

Any bets?

 

[stormbringr1]

The bottom line is whomever owns the property OWNS THE PROPERTY. It's entirely within their rights to close it to public access--especially if the state is unwilling to give them any incentive to continue offering the general public benefit of the free use of the land. Who among you allow any Tom, **** or Harry to use YOUR land at will without extracting some agreement for something in return? When YOU are the one who ponies up the $$$ to pay the piper--then it is YOU who gets to call the tune. That's the american way, eh?

 

[oldguy]

Stormbringr1
The are thousands of Tom, Richards and Harry’s that allow snowmobile trails on their land without any government incentives. That is the back bone of all snowmobile trail systems in the Midwest. The Mulpus company can do whatever they want with their land. I am sure they will also expect the state to put out any forest fires that happen on their land as well. The trails has absolutely no impact on their forest management. I guess when a company puts their profits before thousand of their neighbors shows everybody what kind of company they really are.

Scott_I
The land was previously owned by Boise Cascade for the last 30 plus years, it was not state land.

 

[MNBlizzard]

I'm with old guy on this one, he has it all right...why should these large corporate landowners get treated differently than any other land owner like me in northern mn? The way they manage the land and trees benefits them the greatest, they should not get exorbitant tax rebates to do so...bottom line, they are a terrible neighbor and bad for mn. I hope the state does not cave on the tax breaks otherwise I want one, I haven't had an actual property tax rebate ever!

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Just like the deal in Michigan with CFA land, they receive a low tax rate by allowing the public to use their land for hunting and fishing. In Michigan any private land owner with over 40 acres can enroll in the CFA program in exchange for lower taxes not just the "big corporate guys".

So if a landowner has to pay full price property taxes what incentive is there for them to allow public access? I sure well don't want everybody walking all over my farm, thus I pay full tax value. My neighbor has his land enrolled in CFA and has to deal with people hunting his place and walking through down to the river, also has to deal with people that think because its CFA it is legal to ride your ATV or snowmobile there, or cut firewood, for dealing with all that headache he gets to pay just $1.25 an acre in taxes.

Bottom line if the general public wants the Privilege of using somebody else's private land for their own benefit then the landowner should be compensated for that and lower taxes is the easy way to do it.

 

[oldguy]

MI has 6400 miles of snowmobile trails with the CFA available. MN has over 20,000 miles of trails with no CFA options to the landowners. Maybe all of MN landowners with snowmobiles trails on them should shut them down.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Minnesota may not have the same CFA program as Michigan, but Molpus lets the public use their land (for hunting as well as snowmobiling) in exchange for lower tax rates via the Sustainable Forestry Incentives Act. So if the state isn't going to give them a lower tax rate or cap the total incentive then why should they allow the public use their private land???

If Molpus has to pay full taxes on the land then it would be no different than all the other private land owners who pay full taxes. Most of those private landowners also don't allow the public to access their land.

 

[mulchatna]

The next card played should be the threat by the state to take the property through the power of eminent domain and offer to pay less than market value.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

That would never fly. They would lose way to much in taxes if they took the land. Let alone there are some strict guidelines that need to be met for eminent domain and I highly doubt snowmobile trails would fly as a reason in our court systems.

Why do some people feel they are entitled to use other peoples land??? If you use somebody elses land you should be on your knees thanking them because they foot all the responsibility (taxes, insurance, maintenance, liability, etc) and you get to rewards (hunt, fish, snowmobile). So a good way to thank them is with tax incentives.

As a forestry who works with these Private Industrial land owners I can be the first to say that if there was no tax incentive these landowners would kick every last person off their land as there are no other positives for the landowner than the tax break...

 

[POLARISDAN]

Just like the deal in Michigan with CFA land, they receive a low tax rate by allowing the public to use their land for hunting and fishing. In Michigan any private land owner with over 40 acres can enroll in the CFA program in exchange for lower taxes not just the "big corporate guys".

So if a landowner has to pay full price property taxes what incentive is there for them to allow public access? I sure well don't want everybody walking all over my farm, thus I pay full tax value. My neighbor has his land enrolled in CFA and has to deal with people hunting his place and walking through down to the river, also has to deal with people that think because its CFA it is legal to ride your ATV or snowmobile there, or cut firewood, for dealing with all that headache he gets to pay just $1.25 an acre in taxes.

Bottom line if the general public wants the Privilege of using somebody else's private land for their own benefit then the landowner should be compensated for that and lower taxes is the easy way to do it.

well said..this is an accurate opinion..private means private..no difference than our tresppassing issues..open land should be compensated