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CATAWBA LAND-SWAP INVESTIGATION EXPANDED

INSPECTOR VALIDATES CONCERNS OF RESIDENTS

Date: Sunday, October 11, 1998 Section: VIRGINIA Page: A1

By C.S. MURPHY THE ROANOKE TIMES

Catawba residents say the Forest Service land is far more valuable than the
private land to be swapped.

Catawba residents have loudly criticized the U.S. Forest Service's assertion
that two parcels of North Mountain land are of equal value, and thus good
candidates for a public-private land swap.

Now, the inspector general who oversees the Forest Service has validated
their concerns.

U.S. Department of Agriculture inspector general Roger Viadero told The

Seattle Times on Wednesday that he believes many Forest Service land
swaps are based on questionable appraisals and represent "a personal
affront to every American."

Viadero said his concern that the public is coming out on the losing end of
these deals has caused him to expand a 2-year-old investigation into the
land-swap program.

He said it often appears that "select people" can manipulate land

exchanges.

"The only real loser in these things is the taxpayer," he said.

Viadero said the root of the problem is the Forest Service's secretive
appraisal procedures.

The Forest Service has the power to swap public for private land as long as
the two parcels are of equal value and the exchange is in the public's best
interest. But it's the service's practice to withhold appraisal information
from public scrutiny until after deals go through.

Catawba residents, armed with sale prices for comparable land in the area,
say the Forest Service land is far more valuable than the private land
because it's relatively flat and developable. The private land, owned by
David Turner of Florida, is located on North Mountain's steepest section.

Many complain that they can't even stand on some of Turner's land because
it's so steep.

Herbert Smith began asking Forest Service officials for appraisal information
shortly after the agency told residents they were considering a swap in July.

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Smith's family owns land off U.S. 311 that's adjacent to the federal land that
may be exchanged.

He said a forestry official based in Atlanta told him that releasing appraisal
reports would be "like shooting ourselves in the foot."

So, Smith filed a formal Freedom of Information Act request, and received a
response a month and a half later from Elizabeth Estill, a regional forester
based in Atlanta.

She said an appraisal hadn't been completed on the Turner land and that the
service doesn't release reports of that nature "prior to conveyance of title."

Smith was surprised to hear that an appraisal of Turner's land hadn't been
completed.

"When they say equal value, you assume they have appraisals to back them
up," he said. "They have nothing to substantiate the value of one piece."

Jerry Jacobsen, the recreation forester for the New Castle Ranger District,
said his office was under the impression that an appraisal was completed on
that land last year. The district includes the George Washington/Jefferson
National Forest.

Estill wasn't available for comment last week.

Smith also complained that officials took too long to respond to his FOIA
request, and the response came only after U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-
Roanoke, wrote two letters to the service asking for the appraisals.

Estill cited three FOIA exemptions for not releasing the information, saying
appraisal information is protected by the U.S. Privacy Act, which prohibits
releasing such information without Turner's permission.

"In this instance, the appraisal report contains the key determinants in the
valuation process," Estill wrote. "Release of this information does not
contribute significantly to the public understanding of the operations and
activities of the Forest Service and would constitute a clearly unwarranted
invasion of personal privacy."

These are arguments commonly used by Forest Service officials across the
country, said Janine Blaeloch, director of the Western Land Exchange
Project.

Blaeloch founded her organization, which deals exclusively with public-

private swaps, more than a year ago after battling an exchange on
Huckleberry Mountain in King County, Wash.

Blaeloch, environmentalists and King County residents questioned the value

given for the public land in that swap, saying it was much too low. By the
time the public caught wind of the swap, it was a done deal.

Later, independent appraisers hired by The Seattle Times confirmed their

fears by saying the appraisals were poorly documented.

Blaeloch said the proposed Catawba land exchange sounds like a "typical"
swap.

"The policies are the same, and the law is the same," she said. "There are

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the same questions around them."

Blaeloch and other land-swap critics say the Forest Service's policy of not
releasing appraisal information defies logic.

"That is the central factor. The bottom line on the law is that trades have to
be of equal value. If that is the one way that we can determine if the land is
of equal value, then we need to know how this land is appraised."

Viadero made his comments last week, following a series of stories in the
Seattle paper that looked at problems in the land-swap program. The
expanded study he advocated probably will have no impact on the Catawba
land swap.

Viadero said he hopes to conclude a study of land trades in California,

Arizona and New Mexico before deciding whether to look at trades in other
parts of the country.

Forest officials have said they want the Turner land to protect the North
Mountain Trail and the mountain's ridge top, but Catawba residents who
have objected to the swap fear the tract Turner gets will become a housing
development.

Jacobsen said he can't recall a time when his office released appraisal
information.

"It's not like we're trying to hide anything," he said. "It's just sensitive
information."

Jacobsen said a preliminary or draft decision on the Catawba swap will

likely come in mid to late November.

The staff has been busy sorting through a thick file of comments on the
proposed swap submitted by Catawba residents.

"We have to sift through this and group them by issue," he said.

C.S. Murphy can be reached at 981-3114 or cindym@roanoke.com

Caption: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY THE ROANOKE TIMES. Two tracts of land
involved in a controversial land swap are shown in this aerial view of North
Mountain. The land at the top of the ridge is private. Graphic: map showing
the location of the proposed land swap. COLOR THE ROANOKE TIMES

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