[Vision2020] Otter to attend Grangeville Lochsa land swap meeting

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of today's (November 6, 2015) Lewiston Tribune.

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Otter to attend Grangeville Lochsa land swap meeting
Nov. 24 event will consist of three panel discussions on controversial proposal
Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter and the owner of Western Pacific Timber Co. will attend a Nov. 24 public meeting organized by U.S. Sen. Jim Risch on the proposed upper Lochsa land exchange.
The meeting, to be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Grangeville Elementary School gymnasium, was originally scheduled for Nov. 23 but was moved to accommodate the schedules of various speakers, including leaders of groups opposed to the trade.
The proposal, which would trade about 39,000 acres of private timber land near Lolo Pass for U.S. Forest Service land of similar value near Grange-ville, has been mired in controversy since it first came to light in 2007. The Clearwater National Forest led an effort to consider the trade, but citizens who feared losing recreational access launched a spirted campaign against the proposal. Idaho County commissioners weighed in against the trade, but they also crafted their own alternative that would concentrate the land trade solely within the confines of the county. Doing so, they said, would help protect the county's private land tax base.
In 2013, Risch, Sen. Mike Crapo and Rep. Raul Labrador asked Forest Service officials to halt their administrative process of considering the trade so they could try to foster a swap through legislation. The agency complied, but Risch and his colleagues failed to move forward with a formal process to consider a deal. Last year, the company released proposed legislation that would place easements on any public land it might acquire to prevent it from being commercially developed and ensure public access in perpetuity. The move did nothing to quell the opposition.
Darren Parker, deputy legislative director for Risch, said Thursday the senator has not taken a position on the exchange.
"The purpose of the meeting is just to listen to Idahoans about how they feel about the Lochsa land exchange," Parker said. "The senator has no preconceived ideas about the proposal."
The meeting will begin with welcoming remarks from Idaho County commissioners as well as comments from Risch and Otter. It will include three panel discussions, the first featuring an unnamed representative of the U.S. Forest Service, James Dolan, principal owner of Western Pacific Timber, and Andy Hawes, an attorney for the company that owns the private timber land in question.
The second panel will include a representative of the Nez Perce Tribe and Dale Bosworth, retired chief of the Forest Service. Bosworth is a supporter of the swap because of the ecological value of the land the Forest Service would acquire. Forest Service officials have also said the trade would make it easier to manage public land in the area by blocking up what is now a checkerboard ownership pattern.
The third panel will include both opponents of the swap and those who are staying neutral. Ray Anderson of Grangeville and a member of the group Stop the Swap will be joined by Blake Ballard of Moscow, a retired employee of the Palouse Ranger District. Ballard represents a group of retired rangers and other employees of the ranger district who have long opposed the land trade. Early on in the process, much of the public land that could be traded away was centered on the Palouse Ranger District.
Anderson said opposition to the trade remains strong in Idaho County.
"This whole issue keeps getting sugarcoated with promises of conservation easements and perpetual use of the land for recreation, but it was proven during the Lochsa Land Exchange Task Force that most of the conservation easements are pipe dreams. It's just too hard to maintain."
The panel will also include Sandra Mitchell of the Idaho Recreational Council, which has worked to ensure recreational access is protected on public land if it is traded to Western Pacific. Mitchell said Thursday the group hasn't endorsed the swap.
"I encourage everybody to go and listen and come up with an opinion and not just oppose or support it just because," she said.
The panel will also include a representative of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. The conservation and hunting group initially supported the swap but later backed away from the deal after rank-and-file members of the group expressed opposition.
Hawes, who has been the face of Western Pacific during both the Forest Service administrative process and now the legislative process, said the company is excited about the opportunity to share the contents of the legislation directly with the public. He said the company intends to actively manage any land it acquires and timber harvest will help the local economy. He also said the company wants to enhance recreation on land it acquires.
"I think the public will be pleased there is some really good and positive things that are within the bill that promotes access and public recreation, but at the same time dispels some of the rumors and ideas that are not true," he said.
Following the panel discussions, members of the public will be given two minutes each in a 60-minute session to voice their feelings about the land trade
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Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"There's room at the top they are telling you still.
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill,
If you want to be like the folks on the hill."

- John Lennon
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