Land Exchange
Winter 2004
Update
Research, Advocacy, & Outreach for Land Exchange Policy Reform
LWCF: Fund for federal land purchases is unraveling
W
hen Western Land Exchange Project submits
comment letters and appeals on land trade
proposals, we often push the agency to con-
sider the alternative of purchasing the offered
private land with Land & Water Conservation
Fund (LWCF) money. The logic, of course, is that
there is no downside to acquiring new federal land,
only to trading it away.
But there is a legal case to be made as well. The Ninth
Circuit Court of Appeals has held that LWCF pur-
chases are a reasonable alternative to land exchanges,
and thus should be considered as another option
in environmental analyses. Nowadays, though, the
agencies uniformly reply that purchase is not viable
because of limited LWCF appropriations by Con-
gress. In addition, competition for funds is fierce,
and LWCF projects can be greatly politicized. In one
case, an agency told us it had initially obtained LWCF
money to purchase a private wilderness in-holding,
only to have the funding withdrawn when a county
commissioner called his Senator to complain about
the resulting net loss of taxable private land in his
county! Sadly, what could have been a no-loss pur-
chase devolved into an exchange that traded away
public land comprised of old-growth forest.
History
Congress passed the Land and Water Conservation
Fund Act in 1964 to provide a means for the federal
purchase of land, water, and conservation easements
to create and enhance national parks, forests, wildlife
refuges, and open spaces. The program also provides
for state matching-grants to help state and local gov-
ernments plan and develop parks and recreational
spaces and purchase land.
Western Land Exchange Project
Seattle, Washington
Vol. 8, No. 3
The Act was based on the premise that some sort of
balance be created, where revenue obtained through
extraction on federal lands and waters would be
invested in protecting public land and water. Under
the law, LWCF money comes from a share of $4 bil-
lion in federal revenues that are generated every year
from offshore oil and gas leasing. All LWCF purchases
are from willing sellers at market value.
Misusing the Fund
The LWCF Act provides that up to $900 million may
be appropriated annually to purchase lands and
waters, but Congress has consistently shortchanged
the program. The highest appropriations occurred
during the Carter Administration, peaking at $805
million in 1978. Over the last 20 years, the level has
stayed between $200 and $300 million.
The balance is diverted for other purposes, or simply
dumped into general appropriations. The result is
that, while more than 7 million acres have been pur-
chased with $9 billion in LWCF appropriations since
1964, Congress has also redirected more than $12
billion of the funding for other uses. The Interior
Department has estimated a current $10 billion back-
log of land and water acquisitions awaiting funding.
Congress has done nothing to suggest that the LWCF
shortfall will be addressed any time soon. Many in
Congress believe there should be no net gain in
federal land ownership, so do not support LWCF
appropriations for federal purchases. For the 2005
fiscal year, for the first time in history, the House
Appropriations Committee provided zero funding for
the federal side of LWCF, while the Senate committee
earmarked $217 million. In final budget negotiations,
House and Senate conferees settled on $166 million
for federal acquisitions.
 Court upholds Kentucky land trade WLXP protests another bad deal in
that eases access for mining Nevada
On October 6, a Kentucky federal district WLXP and Advisory Board member
Without public court ruled that the Forest Service (FS) Charles Hancock have jointly challenged
lands the West complied with the law when it decided to yet another horrid land exchange proposal
exchange land with a Kentucky coal mining from the Bureau of Land Management
would be an company, Leslie Resources. WLXP had (BLM) in Nevada. The agency’s Carson
joined Kentucky Heartwood and several City Field Office has proposed a trade with
impoverished other grassroots environmental groups in an investment group looking to develop
challenging the land exchange under the land in Dayton, a rapidly growing commu-
province. National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) nity about 10 miles east of Carson City.
and Federal Land Policy & Management
—Dr. Michael Frome BLM had already decided to do the trade
Act (FLPMA). The land trade would allow
in November 2002, but Charles—who
the mining company to employ moun-
retired in 1989 as Chief Appraiser for
taintop removal (MTR) mining on land it
the Nevada BLM—filed a protest and
would receive from the Forest Service, as
the agency withdrew its decision. Now,
well as on other land it owns that was inac-
two years later, the BLM’s new appraisals
cessible prior to the trade.
show that the Dayton public land has not
Plaintiffs had argued that the exchange increased in value, despite the community’s
was not in the public interest because of rapid growth. In contrast, the appraisals
visual and sedimentation impacts on a show that the private land has appreciated
nearby Army Corps of Engineers reservoir. by 50 percent, even though it is an unde-
More important, the FS understated the veloped, rural area. Thanks to Charles’
likely impacts of mountaintop removal expertise, we were able to submit detailed
and failed to consider alternatives to the documents showing that the Dayton real
exchange, such as purchase of the private estate market has drastically changed in the
land involved. Unfortunately, the court past two years. This should greatly improve
found that FLPMA granted the agency dis- our chances of getting a serious hearing on
cretion to proceed despite the Army Corps’ the issue.
opposition to the exchange, so long as the
FS had at least considered it. The court also
found that the FS had sufficiently studied
potential impacts of MTR mining on water
quality. Finally, the court said, the FS was
not obligated to consider other alterna-
tives because when the agency advertised
its pursuit of a land exchange, only Leslie
Resources responded, and the company
had no interest in selling its land but only
exchanging it.

Charles Hancock at his Reno home (making

ice cream). Hancock has filed numerous pro-
tests against Nevada BLM land deals.
Photo: WLXP

Land Exchange Update 2 Winter 2004

More news
E
nvironmentalists and ex-employees
of the Yukon Flats National Wildlife
Refuge in Alaska are fighting a land
trade within the Refuge between the Fish &
Wildlife Service (FWS) and a native-owned
oil corporation, Doyon Ltd. Alaska’s pow-
erful Senator Ted Stevens has inserted a
stealth provision into an appropriations
bill that will ultimately give Doyon Ltd.
110,000 acres in the middle of the Refuge.
least temporarily. In 2003, Wyoming Sen.
Craig Thomas inserted a provision into an
energy bill that ordered the BLM to extend
a 25-year lease for the Martin’s Cove land
to the Church. The lease was just recently
finalized, and the Church will pay only
$16,000 a year to use the site. The Mor-
mons also get a first-right-of-refusal should
the federal government decide to sell the
land later, so the specter of a sale remains.

T
The company would in turn give up an as-
he Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
yet undetermined amount of land to the
(SUWA), Grand Canyon Trust (GCT),
government. The FWS, which manages
and other groups have negotiated a
Yukon Flats, has essentially no process for
land exchange that would allow the State
notifying the public of, or involving them
of Utah to trade some of its inholdings in
in, land trades in refuges. Opponents of
potential wilderness areas for lands else-
the deal point out that Doyon Ltd.’s drill-
where that it can develop. Utah’s School
ing in its newly-acquired lands will damage
and Institutional Trust Lands Administra-
wetlands that comprise some of the most
tion (SITLA) wants to give the Bureau of
important waterfowl habitat in the entire
Land Management (BLM) land it has along
refuge. Doyon Ltd would also have the
the Colorado River and near Dinosaur
right to explore for oil under an additional
National Monument in return for feder-
96,000 acres of refuge lands, something the
ally-owned oil-and-gas lands in the Uinta
corporation has been trying to get for 20
Basin in eastern Utah. SITLA tried to do
years. Defenders of Wildlife and Alaska Wil-
a much larger land swap with the BLM in
derness League are fighting the proposal.
2002—the San Rafael Swell exchange—that

W
e first told you in 2001 about then-Utah melted down after whistleblowers exposed
Rep. Jim Hansen’s attempt to pass leg- it as a multi-million dollar rip-off. Interior
islation that would force the Bureau Department officials and SITLA had essen-
of Land Management to sell 1,600 acres of tially colluded to create a special appraisal
federal land to the Mormon Church. The process that inflated the value of their trade
land is question is at Martin’s Cove in cen- lands and devalued the federal land. The
tral Wyoming, a place of great significance San Rafael trade and other scandals ulti-
to church members because of the death mately forced the Interior Department to
of several Mormon immigrants there in an
1856 blizzard. But the site
investigate and revamp its appraisal meth-
➥
is also on the National Reg-
ister of Historic Places and
part of the Oregon, Cali-
fornia, and Pony Express
trails. For more than two
years, the bill drew passion-
ate opposition from WLXP,
Americans United for
Separation of Church and
State, and outraged Wyo-
The LDS Church has
mingites. The bill faltered
secured a long-term
and finally died, as did all
lease for federal land
enthusiasm for selling the
at Martin’s Cove.
land to the Church—at
Photo: WLXP
Land Exchange Update 3 Winter 2004
 ods. SUWA, GCT, and other proponents
say the current trade of about 35,000 acres
on either side is environmentally sound.
But the legislation that would enact the
trade was written by a SITLA lobbyist, and
You can read both WLXP has found serious problems with the
bill language—including special embel-
recent & archived lishments on the appraisal process that
are strongly reminiscent of the San Rafael
press coverage of exchange.
land deals on the
I
n early October, Janine made a presenta-
tion at a conference in the Adirondacks,
“In the Media” where activists gathered to celebrate the
40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act.
page of our Attendees discussed the politics, philoso-
phy, and practicalities of Wilderness. Janine
website spoke about the increasing threat of wilder-
ness legislation that uses privatization of
www.westlx.org public land and water to “pay for” wilder-
ness protection in other areas. This pro-
voked a heated discussion and generated
concern among many veteran wilderness
advocates who were unfamiliar with this
new phenomenon. The conference was an
important part of our efforts to get out the
word on this issue, and we thank the WLXP
members who quickly responded to our call
for help for extra funding to get Janine to
New York.
Western Land Exchange Project
P.O. Box 95545
Seattle, WA 98145-2545
phone 206.325.3503
fax 206.325.3515
www.westlx.org
Board of Directors
Rebecca Rundquist, Pres., Portland, ME
Marianne Dugan, Eugene, OR
Sandy Lonsdale, Bend, OR
Staff
Janine Blaeloch, Director,
blaeloch@westlx.org
Christopher Krupp, Staff Attorney,
krupp@westlx.org
Joanne Hedou, Program Coordinator,
hedou@westlx.org
Newsletter Design: HoffmanGraphics.com
Land Exchange Update
Foundation Supporters
We gratefully acknowledge the support
of the following foundations:
The Hugh and Jane Ferguson Foundation
Norcross Wildlife Foundation
Deer Creek Foundation
New-Land Foundation
Maki Foundation
The Shared Earth Foundation
Unity Avenue Foundation
Weeden Foundation
Thank you to our Donors,
Members & Supporters
Suzanne Artemieff, Molly Attell, Janine
Blaeloch, Denise Boggs, Martin and Sheila
Bunker, Holly Coccoli, Craig & Lynn Dible,
Mark Drake, Deb & Garth Ferber, Ted Gart-
ner, Nunzie Gould, Robert Green, Betty
Griggs, Charles Hancock, Ann Harvey,
Joanne Hedou, Thomas Rhodes Hundley,
Dave & Corey Jacobs, Paul Kampmeier
& Stacy Kihlstrom, Joseph Krupp, Susan
Lynn, Mike Maloney, Joan McClelland,
Carolyn McConnell, Ron Mitchell, Steve
Munsell, Tom Murray, Janice Naragon,
Rachael Paschal Osborn, Dr. Forrest Pee-
bles, Marian Robertson, Rebecca Rolando,
Erica Rosenberg, Becky L. Christian & Roy
Stanley, Peggy Titus, Clarinda Vail, Beth &
Darren Van Pelt, D.W. Wiegand & BJ Park.
Donors to New York Trip
Special thanks to members who helped
send Janine to New York for the Wilderness
Conference. **For some this was a second
donation this year, so we thank you doubly!
Paul Kampmeier & Stacy Kihlstrom**, Dave
Atcheson, Lynne Bama**, Joseph Bower**,
Barton Brown, MD, David Doty, Josiah
“Jim” Erickson, Jr., Alan & Myra Erwin,
Bruce Gaynor, Steve Kelly, Patrick Kintner
DDS, Fayette Krause**, Rick McGuire,
Laurene McLane, Colleen O’Sullivan**,
Sandra Perkins, Jock Pribnow, Tom Prin-
gle**, Marian Robertson**, Paul Swetik.
4 Winter 2004
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Land Exchange Update 5 Winter 2004

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

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