[Vision2020] Otter to sell off public lands

[Mark Solomon]

This re-posted from  Spokesman-Review reporter 
Betsy Rusell's blog 
(http://www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/boise/). 
Betsy's blog along with Randy Stapilus' at 
http://www.ridenbaugh.com/ are excellent places 
to find out what's really going on in Boise.

m.


Brady denounces Otter move to sell public lands

Democratic candidate for governor Jerry Brady was 
joined by former longtime Idaho Fish & Game 
Director Jerry Conley and a group of other 
prominent sportsmen today at a press conference 
decrying a proposed law in Congress that would 
force the sale of public lands to pay for 
Hurricane Katrina and other disaster response - 
with a priority on selling land in states like 
Idaho. The bill is co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. 
Butch Otter, Brady's Republican opponent in the 
race to become Idaho's next governor.

"I've been listening to Idahoans for eight months 
now, and not a single one wanted to sell off 
Idaho's public lands," Brady said. "Idahoans like 
their public land just the way it is. This is not 
Democrats versus Republicans. This is too 
important for politics. It goes to the heart of 
why we live in Idaho."

Otter's legislation, H.R. 3855, was introduced 
Sept. 21. It would require the U.S. Secretary of 
Agriculture to select 15 percent of the land in 
the national forest system and sell it off, and 
the Secretary of the Interior to do the same for 
Interior lands, excluding national parks. 
"Priority locations" are identified as those 
states where the feds own more than 15 percent of 
the total land area.

Idaho, of course, has massive amounts of federal 
land - 63.1 percent of the state.

Otter earlier made waves by voting against an 
emergency appropriation for disaster relief for 
victims of Hurricane Katrina. At the time, he 
said there wasn't enough accountability for the 
spending. But his bill simply places the money in 
a fund for disaster relief, to "cover or defray 
the costs of responding to a natural disaster or 
terrorist attack."

The bill, which is co-sponsored by 12 other House 
members, also includes a moratorium on any new 
acquisitions of federal land.

Brady said the best hunting and fishing land likely would be sold off first.

Jack Trueblood, a recently retired longtime Idaho 
Fish & Game employee, said, "This is bad news for 
people who hunt and fish in Idaho. Rep. Otter is 
showing us, as a congressman, what kind of 
governor he would be. For sportsmen and women, 
this issue is important enough to decide the 
governor's race."

Still awaiting Otter's responseŠ
Posted by Betsy  |  19 Dec 3:19 PM

Congressman responds

Here's Otter's response. He doesn't say anything 
about the impact of his public land-sale bill on 
hunting, fishing, or other public access.

"I find it interesting that, at a time when many 
local governments are struggling to make ends 
meet, some would oppose an effort to restore to 
local property tax rolls and Idaho-based 
stewardship some carefully selected parcels of 
the nearly two-thirds of Idaho that is controlled 
- and too often locked up from multiple use - by 
the federal government. Even as an absentee 
landlord, the federal government has a 
responsibility to pay its fair share. This 
proposal is a responsible option to consider when 
counties in Idaho routinely are shortchanged by 
millions of dollars on PILT payments and the 
government is failing to maintain such facilities 
as the backcountry airstrips needed for emergency 
response. It also might be worth asking where the 
criticism was when the federal government sold 
large portions of the Boise Foothills to the city 
of Boise. Are such transfers only valid when they 
are proposed by self-appointed conservationists, 
and not by those who espouse the broader concept 
of multiple-use stewardship?"
Posted by Betsy  |  19 Dec 4:02 PM
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