[Vision2020] Idaho County Proposal Excludes Latah County

Tom Hansen thansen at moscow.com
Sat Jul 16 04:37:40 PDT 2011


Courtesy of today's (July 16, 2011) Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

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Idaho County proposal excludes Latah County: Proposal would not affect 2,600 acres of national forest in county borders
By Brandon Macz Daily News Staff Writer

The U.S. Forest Service approved an addition to its 2008 feasibility analysis for the proposed Upper Lochsa Land Exchange this week, which addresses a proposal to keep a land swap between Western Pacific Timber and the Forest Service isolated to acreage in Idaho County.

Idaho County commissioners offered the alternative in November during a comment period for a draft environmental impact statement released by the Forest Service.

That initial proposal was for the Forest Service to exchange WPT land on the Upper Lochsa, potentially with 28,000 acres of National Forest parcels in Latah, Benewah, Clearwater, Bonner, Idaho and Kootenai counties with 18,000 acres analyzed in the 2010 DEIS.

The Forest Service preferred a combined land exchange and three-year purchase agreement where about 14,100 acres of national forest - 2,600 acres coming from Latah County - would be exchanged for about 39,300 acres of WPT land in the Upper Lochsa.

Idaho County Commissioner Skip Brandt said that would amount to a loss of one-fifth of his county's private timber land held by WPT and about $100,000 in annual tax revenue.

"I've spent literally the last three years putting sticks in the spokes of that exchange," Brandt said.

The alternative proposal commissioners recommended would keep the exchange in Idaho County with WPT turning over 40,000 acres of environmentally reclaimed land within the Upper Lochsa drainage for 45,000 acres of federal land in the Nez Perce National Forest.

"I hate to say it," said Teresa Trulock, Forest Service project manager, "but it's kind of like starting over."

A supplemental draft environmental impact statement is expected to be completed by October to be added to the 2010 DEIS for another 45-day public comment period.

The Forest Service plans to whittle about 5,000 acres of national forest from the alternative proposal through those comments.

But that doesn't mean the Forest Service is not still considering the preferred option it announced last year, Trulock said.

"Everything that we've looked at in that draft to date is still viable," she said. "They could still be exchanged. We would be able to pick from that whole big pool (of options) when we're through with it."

Idaho residents who had previously requested copies of the DEIS will be notified when the supplemental EIS is released.

"They'll receive a notification that it's available for review," Trulock said. "It will be on our website and they can request a copy. It will be exactly what came out before, except it will be for this new chunk of land." She said residents can also reiterate concerns for the initial DEIS if they choose. "Whatever they want to tell us again, they can."

There is a snag in Idaho County's proposal because the Forest Service can only exchange land based on equivalent value within 25 percent, not simply acre-for-acre.

Trulock said commissioners will have to call on their U.S. congressional representatives to get legislation enacted allowing for an acre-for-acre exchange.

"I picture this as being beyond the 25-percent boundary, and that would require legislation," Brandt said, "and we are pursuing that."

He added he understood WPT would be willing to cover the cost difference of the exchange to access viable timber land.

"We have proposed acres that have not been harvested," he said. "WPT would pay the difference."

Brandt said it would be nice if the proposal was accepted, the housing market improved and WPT was able to generate new jobs for county residents, but "Right now, I'm just looking at coming out of this thing unscathed for Idaho County."

A copy of the addendum to the 2008 feasibility analysis can be found online: http://bit.ly/qTlduV.

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For more info . . .

http://www.LochsaLandExchange.com

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 
"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change and the Realist adjusts his sails."

- Unknown

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