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BACKUS - Cass County has 16 tax forfeited land parcels available for sale, some for as long as five years, that no one seems interested in buying.

Tuesday, Land Commissioner Joshua Stevenson obtained county board authorization to re-appraise land values for these parcels before offering them on a future auction at what he expects will be lower prices. Cass assessing officer appraisers will conduct the review.

All parcels had been offered at prior auctions. When they did not sell at auction, Stevenson has made them available to any potential purchaser who stopped by the land department office. The county auctions some forfeited lots and acreages each year that do not fit with its timber and wildlife management programs.

Stevenson informed the board loggers have been having a hard time accessing some of the county timber sale sites this winter. Deep snow has prevented swamps and some access roads from freezing, so loggers cannot reach sites to cut timber, he said.[[In-content Ad]]

Loggers have asked for extensions on their cutting contracts to give them another year to cut timber they bid to cut, Stevenson said.

The board voted Tuesday to allow an extension for contracts due to expire in March this year only if the logger pays the usual extension charge. All sales that qualify for a winter extension require payment in full before any cutting begins, but not before the extension is approved.

Stevenson said $310,000 worth of timber cutting contracts is set to expire in March.

The commissioners approved selling power line easement rights over two county tax forfeit parcels to Ottertail Power along an existing utility corridor for $500 for each parcel each of the next five years.

They approved allowing the DNR to burn county managed land with DNR land this spring. The DNR annually burns some swamp and lowlands in the Boy River and Boy Lake area east of Leech Lake to maintain native marsh grasses, wild rice beds and meadows in that area.

Cass sold $190,792.96 worth of timber from county land Jan. 27, Stevenson reported. That included 3,649 cords of aspen, 1,767 cords of birch and 1,180 cords of red oak. Smaller amounts of other tree species were sold. Aspen averaged $24.94 per cord. Oak averaged $31.45 per cord. The highest per cord price ($49) was paid for the 57 cords of white spruce the county sold.

Second publication rights after Brainerd Dispatch.

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