[Vision2020] HR 3855

[AreaMan (DanC)]

Amazingly, Tom Hansen and I agree on something.

I am opposed to selling our public lands to private interests.  It
doesn't matter if you are a hiker, hunter, dirt biker, snowmobiler, or
even just a couch potato.  Everyone benefits from the harvest of timber
on federal lands, and many reap the benefits of being able to recreate
in our public lands/national forests.  I am especially wary of Section
1(c), which would be most detrimental to my way of life here in Idaho.
It would be *slightly* more amenable if this bill took an equal
percentage of lands from each state, but I'm still against the sale of
public lands to private interests.  It's not that I'm against all
private interests.  The biggest landowner in Latah County does a pretty
good job of taking care of their holdings, and they are also pretty good
about letting people "use" their land for recreational purposes and
allowing access for hunting and fishing, just as long as the users are
responsible (that's a whole 'nother barrel of monkeys there, maybe it'll
come up some other time).

On the other hand, why couldn't timber sales be made on these lands and
earmarked for disaster relief?  No matter what, timber is going to be
harvested because that is a part of responsible stewardship and the
management of forest health.  Of course we'd have to see where timber
dollars would be taken from before it could meet full approval.

Hoping for a good summer of trail riding in the St. Joe and Clearwater
Nat'l forests (and hopefully on some private ground *with permission*),

DC