Land Exchange
Winter 2003
Update
Research, Advocacy, & Outreach for Land Exchange Policy Reform
Meet the people who are safeguarding your public land
Establishing the Western Land Exchange Project in 1997
was the ultimate outcome of one person’s outrage over one
bad land deal—the Huckleberry Land Exchange in Wash-
ington State between Weyerhaeuser and the Forest Service.
It didn’t take long to discover that the wheeling, dealing,
and disposal of public land was happening all across the
country—at a furious pace, in a reckless fashion, and with
virtually no one watching. Someone had to take this on….
And that’s what we hear almost every day from ad-hoc activ-
ists across the West and beyond— people who never suspected
that they would become intimate with mind-numbing regula-
tions, that they had an activist cell in their bodies, or that
their public lands might be selected as a sacrifice zone.
One of the best parts of our work is the daily contact we have
with activists from all over the country who are working with
us for the same cause. We thought you should meet some of
them. —JB
S P
ince 1999, Tony Gioia of Camp
Verde, Arizona has led commu-
nity opposition to the Yavapai
Ranch Land Exchange, a legis-
lated deal currently sponsored by
Rep. Renzi and Sen. McCain. In
addition to trading public lands
elsewhere, the deal would relin-
quish more than 3,000 acres of
Prescott National Forest land in the Verde Valley to
developer Fred Ruskin, who would hand over some
of his lands in the “checkerboards” of the Prescott.
Tony has worked unrelentingly as a member of the
town council, various water-related advisory boards,
and local ad-hoc groups to spread the word about the
danger Ruskin’s development would pose to already-
imperiled water supplies in the Valley’s communities.
Originally from New York, Tony was a professional
Western Land Exchange Project
Seattle, Washington
Vol. 7, No. 2
motorcycle road-racer and musician for nearly 20
years. He came to the Verde Valley in 1994, went to
work for the Post Office, and soon became active in
community concerns. Tony hadn’t conceived of any
potential danger to the national forest lands near
his home, but says the emergence of the Yavapai
exchange “increased my awareness a thousand-fold.”
With money scraped together among local activists,
Tony has twice traveled to Washington, D.C. to lobby
and testify against the Yavapai bill, which has so far
failed to pass the Senate but is likely to come back in
January 2004. In the face of daunting odds, Tony and
friends remain determined to save the Verde Valley
lands. “These are public lands that belong to all citi-
zens of the United States—and to their wildlife inhab-
itants,” he says. For more information on the Yavapai
deal, see www.yrlx.com.
eggy Titus never planned to be
a public lands activist, but the
Bureau of Land Management
(BLM) forced her hand. The
New York-born Titus moved to
Phoenix, Arizona in 1972 to go to
school, and eventually worked as
a travel agent. In 1997, Peggy and
her husband bought land near
Mayer, Arizona and built their own off-the-grid, water-
conserving (and non-air-conditioned!) home. In
the spring of 2002, Peggy learned that the BLM was
planning to trade to a developer some 17,000 acres
in her area, including a 9,000-acre parcel near her
home. Peggy and friends climbed the steep learning
curve of laws and regulations governing land trades
(and insists we mention how helpful they found our
Citizens’ Guide to Federal Land Exchanges, which she
➥
says “helped us know the process and hold
them to it.”) In the face of massive public
opposition from Peggy and hundreds of her
neighbors, the BLM withdrew the exchange
proposal. Now, however, the agency is draw-
ing up a new management plan for the area
and is proposing to keep the 17,000 acres
on the list for future disposal. Peggy’s once-
quiet life is now full of meetings, organizing
efforts, and letter-writing. After discovering
what she calls the Pandora’s Box of public
land policy, Peggy joined her local BLM
Resource Advisory Council, where she is
determined “not to just play the game but
to work for the protection of public lands.”
C
arolyn McConnell’s
family moved a lot
as she was grow-
ing up, but one fixed
place in her existence
was and is Stehekin,
the tiny, isolated com-
munity in Washington
State’s North Cascades
National Park (NCNP)
where her grandparents bought land after
World War II. Now a Seattle resident, Caro-
lyn is senior editor at YES! Magazine, an
ad-free national quarterly that focuses on
positive change. Carolyn remains strongly
connected to the Stehekin community,
including as a member of the North Cas-
cades Conservation Council, which her
grandparents helped found. Several years
ago, Carolyn helped form the group Ste-
hekin Alert to fight a developer’s plan to
build cabin-style condos on the cliffs above
upper Lake Chelan. In response to a huge
outcry in the community, the National Park
Service (NPS) proposed to exchange the
cliff land for publicly-owned spotted owl
habitat. Stehekin Alert, along with National
Parks Conservation Association and WLXP,
organized public opposition to the trade,
eventually forcing the NPS to drop the
exchange and purchase the developer’s
land. Now, Carolyn and her colleagues
in NCCC are challenging the NPS over
another bad exchange in Stehekin. Carolyn
feels bound to Stehekin partly because “ the
Land Exchange Update
experience of wilderness is an experience
of freedom.” “The hard part,” Carolyn says,
“has been realizing that without constant
struggle on our part, the agencies won’t do
their jobs,” but Stehekin has always inspired
an active community, and even the infuriat-
ing complexities of bad land trades won’t
be enough to grind this one down.
F
or more than a
decade, Donna
Charpied has been
fighting to protect our
public lands from a pro-
posed garbage dump
near her home outside
Joshua Tree National
Park. Donna and her
husband Larry own and
work an organic jojoba farm near Eagle
Mountain, California, and worry that the
proposed dump will contaminate and
deplete the region’s groundwater, pollute
its air, and harm species endemic to the
Mojave Desert ecosystem. “These are public
lands,” says Donna, “and while Joshua Tree
is geographically part of Larry’s and my
community, philosophically it is part of
everyone’s community.” Donna’s efforts
began in 1992, after the Kaiser Corpora-
tion received a permit from Riverside
County, California, to build what was to be
the nation’s largest garbage dump. Donna
was so alarmed that she bought a how-to
book on litigation, filed a lawsuit under
the California Environmental Quality Act
against the county, and successfully argued
the case in court. At the same time as the
CEQA litigation, others were challenging a
decision by the BLM to do a land exchange
with Kaiser to provide it with the majority
of the land for the dump. After Donna’s
victory in state court, the BLM withdrew
its decision to proceed with the trade and
decided to prepare a new EIS. Riverside
County re-approved the project in 1997,
and the Charpieds again challenged the
decision, this time with the help of lawyers
and the Sierra Club. Again, the trial court
found that Riverside County had violated
➥
2 Winter 2003
CEQA, but the decision was reversed on
appeal. When the California Supreme
Court refused to hear the case, Donna and
Larry filed a suit in federal district court
against the BLM for its decision to proceed
with the Kaiser exchange. That suit is still
before the court and could be decided any
day. Donna and Larry’s work for the desert,
The Reading Room of our website,
for which they receive virtually no financial
support, is profoundly inspiring to us at
www.westlx.org,
WLXP. features project news, press
coverage, and access to our
F
or the last many
months, David Doty
has been challenging
a planned land trade in
newsletters and publications.
the Ouachita National
Forest in western Arkan-
sas. David found us
through our website,
read our two books,
and quickly learned Land Exchange Update
the alphabetical morass of environmental The Land Exchange Update is published by
statutes —NEPA, FLPMA and FOIA— so the Western Land Exchange Project, a non-
he could take on the Forest Service. Since profit charitable organization conducting
then, he has been a persistent thorn in the research, outreach, and advocacy for the
Forest Supervisor’s side, forcing the agency reform of federal land exchange policy.
to abide by the law. The proponent of the
land trade, a summer camp operator, was
Western Land Exchange Project
P.O. Box 95545
originally seeking more than 400 acres of
Seattle, WA 98145-2545
National Forest, including a portion of
phone 206.325.3503
a popular hiking trail and about a half-
fax 206.325.3515
mile of a tributary to the Ouachita River.
www.westlx.org
Because of the hard work of David and
others, the exchange has been scaled back
to about a third of its original size. But
Board of Directors
Rebecca Rundquist, President, Seattle, WA
David is not satisfied—the current proposal Dr. Charles Pezeshki, Pullman, WA
would still have an impact on the trail, may Marianne Dugan, Eugene, OR
harm the sensitive southern yellow lady’s Sandy Lonsdale, Bend, OR
slipper, and would violate the Forest Plan.
After a career in local government, David Staff
and his wife Martha retired in 1993 to a Janine Blaeloch, Director,
mountain ridge adjacent to the Ouachita blaeloch@westlx.org
forest outside Royal, Arkansas. The two
are avid hikers and campers and volun- Christopher Krupp, Staff Attorney,
teer their time to repair trails in the area. krupp@westlx.org
David is also a volunteer instructor for the Linda Campbell, Program Coordinator,
AARP and a charter member of the Lake campbell@westlx.org
Ouachita Citizens Focus Committee, which
advises the US Army Corps of Engineers on Newsletter Design/Production
its management of Lake Ouachita. Sheila Hoffman
www.NewslettersAndMore.net
Land Exchange Update 3 Winter 2003
 Congress doles out the public domain
“There is no When we started our work in 1996, the West-
ern Land Exchange Project was focused
bers from outside that state will ultimately
oppose it.
hunger like on malfeasance and bad management in
the Forest Service and BLM land exchange
Citizens have little recourse to improve or

land hunger, programs. It was not until 1998—when the

Interstate-90 land trade here in our state
forestall land exchange legislation, since
the normal safeguards provided through
and no object changed from an agency action to a congres-
the agencies are almost always eliminated.
In an agency land trade, a project must go
for which men
sional deal—that we saw how infinitely worse
through the National Environmental Policy
land deals can be when they come out of the
Act (NEPA) process, which requires envi-
are more ready U.S. Congress. Over the years, we have dis-
covered that members of Congress annually
ronmental analysis, examination of alterna-
tives, and public involvement in the decision.
to use unfair exchange, give away, and authorize the sale of
public land—hundreds, sometimes thousands
Not so with the majority of congressional
trades—and other laws such as the Federal
and desperate of acres at a time—as freely as though they
themselves were its sole owners.
Land Management & Policy Act (FLPMA)

means than the As one example, in the 104th Congress (1996-

and Endangered Species Act may also be
waived to grease the skids. Even the appraisal

acquisition of 1997), an incredible 94 land transactions were

enacted. Fifty-nine deals involved military
land.” lands—e.g., conveyance of small parcels on
or near military bases to nearby jurisdictions
—Gifford Pinchot (another issue deserving of scrutiny). But the
1996 Omnibus Parks & Public Lands Bill also
The Fight for Conservation contained 21 land deals affecting non-military
public lands totaling more than 80,000 acres.
By comparison, the Forest Service traded away
68,000 acres that year in 85 transactions.
The 1996 Omnibus exemplifies the secretive
nature of these deals: of the 21 bills, only 9
of them cited an acreage figure, using only
a legal description or reference to a map.
The bills contain cryptic, arcane language
whose meaning is not clear. Many of the bills
exempted the trading parties from environ-
mental laws; one established a system for
appraising lands in southern Utah so as to
give private land owners inflated land value in
trades with the government.
Congressional land deals are extremely diffi-
cult to challenge. Because they do not involve
the direct outlay of money, most are consid-
ered “non-controversial,” and very few mem-
bers of Congress concern themselves with
even knowing what’s in them. Rep. George
Miller (D-CA) has been the most vocal critic
of these deals in the past few years, but if the
congressional delegation of the affected state
is actively (or even passively) supportive of a
land exchange, not even fair-minded mem-
standards, designed to ensure that taxpayers
aren’t bilked, are routinely bypassed.
Unfortunately, the public is almost com-
pletely unaware of the cloakroom deals that
relinquish public lands. Established envi-
ronmental groups in the affected area may
involve themselves if they have the knowledge
and resources, but often it is the spontane-
ous coalition of citizens that must carry the
cause. The Western Land Exchange Project
regularly monitors, submits testimony on,
and publicizes these projects, but the sheer
volume can be overwhelming.
As an antidote to frustration, WLXP is under-
taking a major effort to educate the public,
members of Congress, and the media on
this issue. With the help of historian George
Draffan, who co-authored our book Com-
mons or Commodity? The Dilemma of Federal
Land Exchanges, we are currently compiling
a history of congressional land deals, which
will include both statistical data and in-depth
analysis of selected exchanges. We will exam-
ine the frequency with which these bills waive
environmental laws; who benefits; how many
acres are gained and lost, and any visible
trends. The book is scheduled for publication
in the spring of 2004 and will be distributed
widely. Our ultimate goal with this work is
to expand awareness of, and catalyze action
against, Congress’ secret deals that endanger
our public lands.

Land Exchange Update 4 Winter 2003

 Thank you to the following foundations
that are supporting our work
Patagonia Help us design the first
Horizons Foundation
Ferguson Foundation
WLXP t-shirt!
WLXP will soon have a gorgeous T-shirt
Deer Creek Foundation you can wear proudly in support of
Strong Foundation for keeping public lands in public
Environmental Values hands. Your original design
Wiburforce Foundation could be the one chosen!
Besides the honor of having
Maki Foundation your signed creation on hun-
Shared Earth Foundation dreds—perhaps thousands!— of
Weeden Foundation shirts around the country, the
winner will receive a free T-shirt for
New-Land Foundation each of his or her family members.

Feeling the pinch
The troubled economy has hit every non-
profit we know, many of our friends, and
most of our loyal philanthropic foundation
supporters. While we’ve kept our budget
modest, prospects for 2004 are more
precarious than we’d like. We need your
(always tax-deductible) memberships and
donations to keep our momentum going.
Remember: WLXP is the ONLY organization
in the country dedicated solely to the complex
issues involved in federal land exchanges,
conveyances, and sales. Our work has had
an impact on these issues because we are
relentless in our pursuit of reforms. We
need your support to keep the pressure on
and to build on our successes. Please fill
out the back page of this newsletter (or cut
out your mailing label) and send it with
your check very soon!
The lucky artist can also claim a tax-
deductible charitable contribution for
the value of their work.
Submit your 8.5” by 11”
(maximum) design, either
electronically in a .jpg file to
campbell@westlx.org, or in hard Your
Design
copy by snail mail. Use only three
colors, preferably compatible with
the colors of the logo on our website.
HERE!
Incorporate the phrase “keep public
lands in public hands” and either the
name Western Land Exchange Project
or our web address, www.westlx.org.
The chosen design will be screened on
the back of white and natural-colored,
short-sleeved organic cotton T-shirts. Our
logo will be printed on the front. Deadline
for design submissions is February 15, 2004.

Western Land Exchange Project Wish List

Item Needed What For
Transferable air miles Aid our ailing travel budget
PC-compatible scanner Scan stuff to send electronically
Laptop computer For working travel; our 1998 laptop is moribund

Any size or type TV View congressional shenanigans related to land exchanges

Cable service Ditto above

Call us if you have something you think we could use that you want to
give away! The value of your in-kind donation is always tax-deductible.

Land Exchange Update 5 Winter 2003

 Western Land Exchange Project
PO Box 95545
Seattle, WA 98145-2545

Keeping
Public Lands
Out Of
Corporate
Hands
…
westlx.org
✂
We’re scrappy...and we get the job done!
Please help support our work for public lands by completing this form
and returning it with your tax-deductible membership/donation to the
Western Land Exchange Project
PO Box 95545
Seattle, WA 98145-2545
Phone 206.325-3503 Fax 206.325-3515

Name: ________________________________________________________________________

Address: ______________________________________________________________________

City: ___________________________________ State: _____________ Zip: _______________

Phone: ________________________________ Fax: ___________________________________

Email: ________________________________________________________________________

Affiliations:____________________________________________________________________

❑ regular $35 ❑ student/optional low rate $20

❑ contributing $125 ❑ Public Lands Advocate $500+

12/03