[Vision2020] Forest Service visits with Latah commissioners

[Moscow Cares]

Courtesy of today's (December 9, 2014) Moscow-Pullman Daily News.
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Forest Service visits with Latah commissioners
New forest supervisor introduced, visits with county officials about Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests
Cheryl Probert, the new forest supervisor for the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests, spoke briefly Monday morning with Latah County Commissioners at the county courthouse.
The outgoing forest supervisor, Rick Brazell, who is retiring from his post effective Jan. 2, joined Probert to visit with local officials throughout the area to ease the leadership transition, they said.
Probert told the commissioners she was impressed by the number of Latah County residents "who care deeply about the forest."
She was the deputy forest supervisor in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest in northern Utah, which includes some top ski resorts and is one of the country's top-five visited national forests, before coming to eastern Idaho.
Probert acknowledged the importance of logging in the area, which has been on the upswing in recent years, and Commission Chair Dave McGraw asked if she had experience with land exchange arrangements.
Probert said she worked at the Targhee National Forest in Wyoming during the Squirrel Meadows-Grand Targhee land exchange that was approved in 2000 and became official in 2004. From 1998-2001 she was the appeals and litigation coordinator for National Environmental Policy Act concerns.
She told the commissioners the response nationally to land transfers is challenging.
The Lochsa Land Exchange has been taken over by Idaho's congressional delegation. The proposal would swap sites with Western Pacific Timber. Though focus appears to have shifted to Idaho County locations, there had been discussion about including land in surrounding counties, such as Latah County.
While there are other Idaho counties affected more by Forest Service logging decisions, Latah County also has an interest in such matters as well.
Brazell said he was going to be head of a nonprofit organization called "First Hunt Foundation," which will focus on providing first-time hunting experiences to youth. He started at the Nez Perce-Clearwater position in 2009. Since taking the position, he said, logging has increased, management of the two forests was consolidated and the Clear Creek Integrated Restoration Project began.
Probert also mentioned restoration of the forests and forest and travel management updates as important management topics.
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Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

  
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