EMIDA, ID – Nearly 8,600 acres of private timberland in North Idaho have been removed from a public access program after repeated violations and property damage, according to land managers and state officials.
Manulife Investment Management recently withdrew the acreage from Idaho’s Large Tracts Program in Unit 5 near Emida, roughly 25 miles north of Deary. The land has now been divided into two parcels that will be leased for exclusive access.
Company officials said ongoing misuse made it increasingly difficult to manage public access while maintaining the land as working forest.
“Our goal is to keep properties in North Idaho available for recreational access while maintaining them as working forests,” a Manulife representative said. “Over time, we have experienced a growing number of unauthorized activities,” including illegal trails, dumping, vandalism, theft, unpermitted fires and damage to roads, gates and wetlands.
The company said shifting to a lease system will allow for greater control over those activities while helping cover management costs.
Idaho Fish and Game conservation officers, who help enforce landowner rules on Large Tracts properties, also reported continued problems on the land.
“Access to private land through programs like Large Tracts depends on mutual respect and following the landowner’s rules,” said Mark Maret, a senior conservation officer in the Panhandle Region. “Unfortunately, we’ve continued to see violations on these properties despite ongoing education and enforcement.”
Maret said those violations ultimately led to the loss of public access.
The affected acreage is located in the southeastern portion of Unit 5. Officials are urging hunters, anglers and other recreationists to verify access each season using the Idaho Hunt Planner, noting that all Large Tracts lands are privately owned and subject to change.
Fish and Game emphasized that landowners — not the agency — control access decisions, and that entering closed or restricted private land constitutes trespassing.
