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7. FORESTS: Idaho land swap delayed as USFS weighs options

(08/12/2010)

Eryn Gable, special to E&E

Officials with the Clearwater National Forest in northern Idaho are reconsidering the terms of a proposed
land exchange that could bring nearly 40,000 acres of timberland located in the upper Lochsa River under
federal ownership.

The deal called for swapping 28,000 acres of federal land scattered across northern Idaho for nearly 40,000
acres of former Plum Creek Timber Co. lands intermingled with the Clearwater National Forest. But after a
public backlash against the proposal, the Forest Service is considering reducing the federal lands in the deal
to less than 18,000 acres and purchasing some of the checkerboard lands rather than acquiring them
through an exchange.

"Our forest supervisor met with state and county officials and heard their concerns and tried to form a new
alternative to meet more of their concerns," said Teresa Trulock, the Clearwater forest's project manager for
the exchange.

The decision means another delay in the release of the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for the
proposal, originally expected last year. The draft EIS is now scheduled for release in October, with a final
decision expected next June.

The lands' current owner, Western Pacific Timber LLC, has indicated it would consider accepting cash as
part of the exchange. But the company is also anxious to see the deal finalized, said the firm's general
counsel, Andy Hawes, noting that Western Pacific has negotiated with the Forest Service over the deal
since 2006.

"We are at a critical point," he said. "If we

can't realistically put something together by
the end of this year or the first of next year,
we have to consider how we're going to get
a return on our investment."

The Western Pacific lands are of interest to

the Forest Service because they include the
headwaters of the Lochsa River, which
provides habitat for many fish and wildlife
species, as well as significant cultural
resources such as the Lewis and Clark
National Historic Trail and the Nez Perce
Tribe treaty area.

Forest Service officials maintain that the

current checkerboard pattern of lands
makes it difficult to manage the lands on an
ecosystem scale. For example, the
Clearwater National Forest and the Nez The upper Lochsa River drainage includes a checkerboard pattern of
Perce Tribe Watershed Division have tried public and private lands. Under a proposed land exchange with Western
to improve the upper Lochsa River drainage Pacific Timber, the Forest Service could soon control all the lands. Photo
by decommissioning roads and replacing courtesy of USFS.
culverts, but those efforts have so far been
limited to federal lands.

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Western Pacific, which purchased the lands from Plum Creek Timber Co. Inc. in 2005 with the intent of
pursuing a trade or sale with the Forest Service, already has a history of successful land exchanges, having
completed the largest land exchange involving public lands with the state of Washington in 2008.

Under that deal, Western Pacific traded about 82,000 acres of timberlands for nearly 21,000 acres of
scattered lands managed by the Washington Department of Natural Resources. The state of Washington, in
turn, was able to create the 129-square-mile Naneum Ridge State Forest to manage wildlife habitat.

As in Idaho, the Washington lands retained a checkerboard ownership pattern, a common feature in the
Pacific Northwest thanks to an 1864 law that awarded 40 million acres of public land -- an area slightly
smaller than Washington state -- for the purpose of building a railroad from the Great Lakes to the Pacific
Ocean. But the railroad never used the lands and Plum Creek, Weyerhaeuser Co., Potlach Corp. and other
timber companies ultimately acquired them.

Many of those lands have since become subject to land exchanges between the government and private
companies in an attempt to bring the most valuable lands back into public ownership. But the exchanges
themselves have frequently come under scrutiny, and the Government Accountability Office has raised
questions about their oversight (E&ENews PM, June 12, 2009).

Concerns about the exchange

In the case of the upper Lochsa exchange, some groups have raised concerns about the equity of the
proposal, saying the Forest Service would be exchanging private cutover land for public land with mature
forests.

"Many of the parcels they want to give up are parcels that have been well-managed for timber and wildlife,"
said Marilyn Beckett of Friends of the Palouse Ranger District. "Most of the parcels have a high
development value and are in an area heavily used by the public."

"My way of looking at it is, why cut off a hand in the interest of gaining fingers?" she added.

In a letter to the Clearwater National Forest last year, a coalition of groups suggested a direct purchase of
property in the upper Lochsa would be the best way to bring the lands into public ownership.

"Creating other inholdings on public land -- which would occur if all the selected public parcels are traded --
does not meet the purpose and need," states the letter from Friends of the Clearwater, Western Lands
Project and the Lands Council. "Rather, it is the equivalent of a Ponzi scheme, robbing Peter to pay Paul."

The money for a purchase would have to come from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which uses oil
-leasing revenues to fund state and federal land acquisitions. The program has historically been
underfunded, but it could receive full funding for the first time as part of a sweeping offshore oil and gas
reform bill pending in Congress (Land Letter, Aug. 5).

The Obama administration has requested nearly $620 million for the LWCF program in fiscal 2011, including
$2 million for the upper Lochsa land exchange.

But Hawes questioned whether enough money could be put together quickly enough for a purchase. "I think
it would be very difficult given the budget constraints," he said.

Idaho County Commissioners have also voiced concerns about the economic impact of the proposal, which
could convert more than 39,000 acres of private land to federal ownership in the county. Federal land
already makes up 85 percent of the county, and the county currently receives about $120,000 annually from
the private lands, including $83,000 in taxes, which would lost if it becomes federal property.

"As soon as that land is stripped out of the private sector, that's a couple of teachers and a couple of
highway crew personnel that we can't afford anymore," said Idaho County Commission Chairman Skip
Brandt.

Brandt said the Forest Service's latest proposal fails to address his county's concerns. Instead, the county is
pushing for a federal program similar to Payments in Lieu of Taxes or Secure Rural Schools that would help
reduce the economic burdens on rural counties by requiring the federal government to pay fees to the
counties similar to what private interests would.

"Everybody shows up here to play in the wilderness, but when they get lost or they get injured, who do they
call? They call the county," Brandt said.

Click here to read the groups' letter to the Clearwater National Forest.

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