[Vision2020] They're Fixin' to Steal Your Public Land

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of today's (February 22, 2012) Moscow-Pullman Daily News with heart-felt thanks to Gary MacFarlane.

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They're fixin' to steal your public land
The late, great Ted Trueblood, an iconic Idaho outdoor writer and conservationist, led the successful charge in the 1970s and '80s that ended the scheme to take control of public lands from American citizens and give them instead to state and local special interests. He knew public lands - encompassing crucial watersheds, fish and wildlife habitat, and undeveloped open spaces offering inspiration and renewal - are the birthright of all Americans. He knew public lands are not primarily for revenue generation and that treating them this way is a slippery slope toward privatization.
Unfortunately, bad ideas never seem to die. Another plot to wrest control of public lands from American citizens - one which has the support of the Latah County commissioners - is a radical proposal from the Clearwater, Idaho, Shoshone, Boundary and Valley county commissioners. They want to take control of 200,000 acres of national forests in Idaho. The ostensible reason is to generate revenue for those five counties via logging or other industrial activities. While funding for county services such as schools is critical, devolving control of land owned by all Americans to local entities and special interests is the wrong step.
In any case, all counties with public lands receive a variety of federal payments meant to compensate the local government for their inability to collect property taxes on federal lands. Recently, as part of its analysis of the controversial proposed Lochsa Land Exchange, the U.S. Forest Service compared the lost property-tax revenue on private land to the federal payment programs that substitute for property taxes on national forest lands. The analysis shows that Latah and Idaho counties would receive less tax money from forested land in private ownership than they would receive as federal payments for the same area in a national forest under public ownership. (See the Upper Lochsa Land Exchange Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement, pages 40 to 53.)
The federal commitment to county payments remains strong. E&E Wire Service recently reported there is strong bipartisan support for the continuance of the federal PILT fund (payment in lieu of taxes). Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., recently said there is a bipartisan deal in the works to continue funding the Secure Rural Schools bill for another five years.
The claim that the local national forest - the Nez Perce and Clearwater national forests (they are combining) - no longer sells much timber is also false. The current volume under contract is the largest it has been in many years and, given the average logging rate for the past five years, there is enough to supply local mills for four years without the Forest Service selling another tree.
Furthermore, logging on the national forests in Idaho is a money-loser for the American taxpayer because national forests are more marginal for timber production than state and private lands. Under the county proposal, fire fighting, an expensive program, would be paid for by the federal government. The proposal also would exempt the state from most environmental laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act, the law that mandates public input. Don't the Latah County commissioners believe in democracy and public participation? It should also be noted that the national forest management laws and plans have far better measures to protect fisheries, soils, wildlife, recreation and watersheds than those which protect state or private land, despite U.S. Forest Service implementation of such measures being far from perfect. Thus, the citizens of the U.S. would bear the costs of this program, in terms of dollars and environmental degradation, and would receive no benefits.
Ted Trueblood had it right when he said, "They're fixin' to steal your land." Unfortunately, this proposal reinforces the stereotype that local western governments are giving the finger to the American public with one hand while picking their pockets with the other. Even worse, the Latah County commissioners are part of that threat. They should have the common sense and integrity to drop their support for this outrageous idea.
Gary Macfarlane is the Friends of the Clearwater ecosystem defense director.
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Gary MacFarlane

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Seeya later, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Post Falls, Idaho

"If not us, who?
If not now, when?"

- Unknown


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