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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>A heart-felt and most
appreciative “thumbs up”.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Perhaps next time Marla Bieker
submits a public letter on behalf of her employer, Western Pacific Timber, laden
with falsehoods and innuendo, she will be more familiar and have better
understanding of the audience of such a letter.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Thank you, Mr. Ballard.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Esto Perpetua,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Tom Hansen<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Blake Ballard
[mailto:ballard@moscow.com] <br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, September 07, 2010 4:43 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> Tom Hansen; Moscow Vision 2020<br>
<b>Cc:</b> Kathy Judson; Marilyn Beckett; basketmakeart@yahoo.com;
jdkrebs1@yahoo.com; lonnieway@verizon.net; l.rosstask@palouse.net;
levengood@moscow.com; 'Friends of the Palouse Ranger District';
sbrandt@idahocounty.org; jrockwell@idahocounty.org; ttranch@smgazette.com<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: Her View: Land swap would benefit all parties<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Followingis
my stab at responding to Ms Bieker's "View". Critique is
welcome. I have tried to keep this letter under the 350 word maximum for
letters to the Moscow-Pullman Daily News; therefore I only spoke to one part of
her letter (to me, the most vulnerable). I wrote a "view" in
rebuttal to Andrew Hawes (WPT attorney) "Their View" about a year ago
and it was never printed. I hope to send this tomorrow so ask
that critique be timely.</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:
"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Blake</span><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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margin-left:3.75pt;margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Marla
Bieker, forester for Western Pacific Timber, extols the virtues of the proposed
Upper Lochsa Land Exchange. That's understandable; she works for the
company that initiated this proposal and would be the beneficiary of the 28,000
acres of publicly-owned national forest land in six counties of North Idaho
that would be traded for the 39,000 acres of mostly cutover land in the Upper
Lochsa River. She represents those national forest parcels as
"small, isolated and already surrounded by private lands that make it
difficult for the USFS to responsibly manage."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>She
is partly right. Many of those parcels ARE surrounded by private
lands. Those parcels that are on the Palouse Ranger District are,
however, neither isolated nor difficult for the "USFS to responsibly
manage." For many years the Clearwater National Forest
has employed a staff of engineers, cadastral surveyors, foresters and
lands specialists that have located and posted property lines, acquired road
rights-of-way and designed high grade roads to access those parcels. And,
for years, those parcels have been responsibly managed. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The
only parcel on the Palouse Ranger District in this proposal that is as Ms
Bieker describes (isolated, difficult to manage, etc.) ironically would only be
further fragmented and made more difficult to manage should the exchange be
completed as planned. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The
part of Ms Bieker’s description that is correct (parcels already surrounded by
private lands) applies to the entire Palouse Ranger District (145,000
acres). Should those parcels be disposed of on that basis, one could make
a case for disposing of the entire Palouse Ranger District--the nearest
national forest land to 100,000 people in Latah and surrounding counties.
Some suspect that disposal of the Palouse Ranger District is what the Forest
Service ultimately, although unwittingly, may accomplish. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>There
is an option being explored that would acquire those 39,000 acres of Upper
Lochsa lands without disposing of the 28,000 acres of national forest lands.
That option is to purchase the private lands. That is the option that the
public should support.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'>Blake Ballard<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'>816 N. Grant St.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'>Moscow, ID 83843<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'>(208) 882-6120 (Home)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'>(509) 330-1083 (Cell)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'>ballard@moscow.com<o:p></o:p></p>
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