[Vision2020] Call the Forest Service

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of the Letters section of today's (October 8, 2011)
Moscow-Pullman Daily News with thanks to Marilyn Beckett.

------------------------------

Call the Forest Service

There are few things as confusing and annoying as the Lochsa Land
Exchange. One thing is clear - the exchange involves disposal of valuable
public land when federal assets (and lands) are more valuable given the
state of the economy, shifting markets and climate.
Communities in Idaho have depended on the U.S. Forest Service for seasonal
jobs, collaboration with our universities, and a dependable employment
base of educated professionals who support them. There was once pride in
"Caring for the Land and Serving the People." We looked to the Forest
Service as the highest caliber of public land management. Contrast that to
what we know about industrial timber throughout history.

There has been disintegration of the Forest Service over the last several
decades. The reasons are a complex weave of events and ideologies, but the
bottom line is that unless we want to privatize our national forests, we
must fight to ensure the Forest Service remains viable.

The land exchange represents a knockout blow to the Forest Service in
Idaho, and has implications for the West in general. As Congress is saying
"no" to sales of surplus federal property, the Forest Service is proposing
to trade large tracts of Idaho public land to a limited liability
corporation with no loyalties, unless it's to a Timber Investment
Management Organization.

We all know about TIMOs and Real Estate Investment Trusts - based
elsewhere and traded on the stock exchange for the highest return to
investors. Millions in assets are necessary to be a qualified investor.
This is not you, me or most of public land ownership.

It's up to us to stop the effort to destroy the mission of the Forest
Service. Call Clearwtater/Nez Perce National Forest Supervisor Rick
Brazell at (208) 983-1950. Tell him to take no action on the Lochsa Land
Exchange.

Marilyn Beckett
Moscow

------------------------------

Seeya at the homecoming parade, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
and the Realist adjusts his sails."

- Author Unknown