|
Outdoor Corner: Bush quarters and resource development
Gene Plihal
for Smoky River Express
I recently wrote about purchasing bush quarters and the kinds of bush quarters to look for depending upon the purchaser’s needs and plans. In this article I’d like to discuss how bush quarters can be affected by development such as oil and gas exploration or wood harvest. “Development” and “Bush quarters” seems like an oxymoron (illogical pairs of words) but in actuality, my experience has been that gas and oil exploration do not necessarily have to adversely affect the eco-system and wildlife habitat.
About a dozen years ago a fellow from Nampa called me and said that he had cancer and he was wondering if I would be interested in a half section of bush with about 60 acres open. Since it was next to bush land which I already owned, I asked the price and immediately accepted his offer. He said he wouldn’t normally sell the land but since he needed cancer treatment in Mexico he was forced to sell. Happily, the treatment apparently extended his life some and I purchased some land which has been nothing but an absolute heavenly environment. The seller told me at the time that he suspected that there might one day be energy exploration on the property but he needed to sell and what he said turned out to be sage. The settlement hadn’t occurred for more than two years when Galleon Energy came calling.
When Galleon called I was frankly paralysed with fear. My vision of bush land and farm land taking a beating immediately came to mind. I had visions of bull dozed bush, endless flares and gravel trails everywhere. Of course, one always has the option of saying, “NO” to any wells or development, but in the case of the impact of the development, I though, what difference does it make if it’s on my quarter or the neighbour’s. The neighbourhood, I thought, was going to deteriorate.
But I was most happily surprised when an agent from Galleon came calling at my home to explain the details of what they planned. The company’s flexibility and willingness to address a person’s concerns were remarkable. The first issue was the land area for the well site, about two acres and the access road. Of course, the well couldn’t be located on land that was already open. Galleon requested land where bush existed. My first reaction was “Hell will freeze over before I allow any bush clearing on my land!” But when the agent offered mitigating action, such as creating regeneration areas for moose at company expense, I immediately saw concern on their part for habitat and their desire to ameliorate differences. Then, on the second well site, which was on the second of the two quarters mentioned above, they planned to open the right-of-way which had bush on it to avoid paying access money to me for using a cutline on my property to get to the same location. In this case I agreed to allow them to use the cutline free of charge in exchange for them not opening up the right-of-way. Both issues were happily settled.
Once the wells were in and producing, the company gave me the option of planting a cover crop of my choice adjacent to the wells.
I chose alfalfa and borrowed a seeder from the MD and used one of my quads to work and sow the lease site, all of which I was compensated for, in addition to the rental fees they were paying for well sites and access trails.
The bottom line is that development can occur on bush quarters without adverse effects if the owner negotiates conditions.
I was there every step of the way and as it turned out the well sites virtually paid for the land in terms of the initial payments and rentals which are continuing. Not all development of well sites end this happily for bush quarter owners so my advice is be there and make certain the bush doesn’t take a beating. And happily, since that time other companies have approached me and been equally accommodating, including Prosper.
One seismic company, when they learned of my affinity for spruce, did seismic work through a quarter of mine that has a fairly heavy stand of spruce and pine and they managed to do their seismic exploration and took out a total of one spruce tree while zigging and zagging through my bush. Kudos to some energy companies at least. They are, in some cases, working hard to overcome the stereotype image they still have in some cases, “pillage and plunder.”
< Previous
Home
|
