[Vision2020] Group hopes to work to save ancient cedar grove

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of Thursday's (November 22, 2012) Lewiston Tribune.

-------------------------------------
Group hopes to work to save ancient cedar grove
MOSCOW - A spokeswoman for the Palouse Land Trust confirmed that she hopes to work with members of a preservation committee and is soliciting help from interested citizens in an effort to save an ancient cedar grove on Moscow Mountain.
"The more brains we get together on this, the better," said Amy Trujillo, executive director of the trust. She said she has talked with former Latah County Commissioner Paul Kimmell, who heads up a cedar grove advisory committee formed six years ago.
Kimmell said he, Trujillo and others want to find a "permanent resting home" for the cedar grove.
The Latah County commissioners recently opted out of a 10-year lease with the Idaho Department of Lands on about 295 acres of state endowment property, within which the approximately 60-acre cedar grove is located. The action opens the door to a number of management options, state officials confirmed, including logging.
The commissioners agreed, prior to their vote, that the lease amounted to a waste of money, since IDL has ultimate authority over how the land is used. By law, endowment land must be managed for a financial return. The county had been spending about $5,300 annually for the lease.
Kimmell said he does not fault the county for pulling out, despite four years left on the lease.
"We ultimately want to put this, under an ideal situation, in the Palouse Land Trust," Kimmell said. "So the conversation is happening."
Trujillo said trust board members had been in conversations prior to her arrival last year and she only recently met with Kimmell about the cedar grove.
"We talked about what the committee has been doing and to see if there is a role the land trust can play in that," she said, adding that she hopes to get together with other committee members in the next few weeks.
The Palouse Land Trust's stated mission is to conserve the open space, scenery, wildlife habitat and water quality of the Palouse.
The cedar grove, with its huge trees casting cathedral-like shadows upon the forest floor in summer sunshine and standing like frozen sentinels in winter snow, has in essence managed and protected itself over several centuries because of its remote location. Most people, Kimmell said, can't find it without help or directions from others.
"Accessibility is very difficult up there," Kimmell said. "It's surrounded by private timber holdings and, through the good graces of Bennett Lumber, there's access. But is it really public? Well, no."
Trujillo said she's visited the site and said it's a great example of a unique habitat that remains virtually untouched.
Kimmell agreed.
"Everybody agrees that it's a very special place, there's no doubt of that," Kimmell said.
The land trust, Trujillo explained, usually works with landowners who donate conservation easements. She said a land exchange might be the best way to acquire the cedar grove and surrounding acres. But finding a piece of property of equal financial worth could be a challenge.
"If we're going to do something, we really want it to be community driven," Trujillo said. "It's not that we're against trying it. It's just that we're going to need a lot of help from the community and the committee to make it happen."
Trujillo said anyone with ideas about how to save the cedar grove or interest in helping with the effort may contact her at (208) 669-0722.

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

Seeya round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares"
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20121123/8bd24300/attachment.html>