Senate Panel Threatens to Axe U.S. Forest Service Land Sales

By J.R. Pegg

WASHINGTON, DC, February 28, 2006 (ENS) – The Bush administration’s proposal to sell off some $800 million worth of Forest Service lands to fund a rural schools program faced sharp criticism from lawmakers on Tuesday and looks unlikely to survive Congressional scrutiny.

The plan plays "Russian roulette" with rural communities who rely on the program and would send some "off an economic cliff," said Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat.

Senator Ron Wyden represents Oregon, a state that encompasses 13 national forests where 10,581 acres are listed for sale. (Photo courtesy Office of the Senator)

Passed in 2000 with broad bipartisan support, the law guaranteed payments to eligible rural counties for public education and transportation projects.

Some $1.9 billion in federal funds from the Forest Service has been allocated through the law, which expires on September 30, 2006.

Deschutes National Forest land thinned by the Forest Service as part of the protection for a private community adjacent to the forest, located in Oregon. (Photo courtesy USFS)

Wyden said the proposal would spark increased conflict and litigation between counties, timber companies and environmentalists over national forest land management issues.

It puts the program "back into the ideological briar patch," said Wyden. "I am going to do everything I can to prevent that."

U.S. Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, who oversees the Forest Service, described the administration’s proposal to a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing today as a "reasonable offset to support a piece of legislation that needs to be reauthorized."

Using land sales to fund the program was "the last alternative," Rey said.

Forest Service officials have identified 2,900 parcels of national forest land within 31 states – totaling some 304,000 acres - for possible sale.

These tracts are "isolated, difficult and expensive to manage, and no longer meeting national forest system needs," said Rey, a former timber industry lobbyist.

U.S. Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey is in charge of the U.S. Forest Service. (Photo courtesy USDA)

Senator Ken Salazar, a Colorado Democrat, said linking land sales to the county payments program makes little sense.

"I am not against land sales as a matter of principle," Salazar said, "but simply selling off 300,000 acres to deal with a budgetary issue is not the way that we ought to be managing our public lands."

Rey defended the proposal as a "one-time proposition to provide the necessary additional time for a transition for these school systems."

"We also think it is justified because one of the reasons that some of these counties have been unable to diversify their economic base is the lack of a tax base, the lack of private land," Rey told the committee. "Some of the lands that we would convey out of public ownership into private ownership would be part of the county tax base - so there is at least some symmetry between the problem and our proposed solution."

The agency will probably only need to sell "about half" the proposed 304,000 acres to get $800 million for the program, Rey said, and will include language giving "state or local governments or land trusts the right of first refusal."

"That is one way to secure whatever public benefits there may be even though there are not national forest system benefits," Rey said.

DeVoto Grove, Clearwater National Forest, Idaho (Photo by Professor R.E. Rosiere courtesy Tarleton State U.)

The Bush proposal would only fund the rural schools program at half its current level and would also rely on sustained federal timber sales to meet its funding goals.

Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said it is disingenuous to tell communities that some of the shortfall will be made up by timber receipts.

Timber sales – in particular in Alaska – are frequently delayed and sometimes blocked by litigation, Murkowski said, and there is "an inconsistency between what we are promising now and what we can expect down the road."

Debate over the Bush land sale plan is overshadowing the need to fully reauthorize the law, said Senator Larry Craig, an Idaho Republican.

Senator Larry Craig of Idaho, a state that encompasses 12 national forests and also has many rural schools. (Photo courtesy Office of the Senator)

"Keeping this program intact is at the top of my priority list," Craig said.

Ranking Member of the Committe, Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, said he is "deeply concerned" because the administration proposes the $800 million sell-off of National Forests land "to partially fund - then terminate - the county payments program."

Bingaman agreed with Craig that debate over the land sale is taking attention from reauthorization of the law, and said he supports the Wyden-Craig approach, which he termed "open" and "collaborative."

The administration’s proposal, by contrast, Bingaman said, "was developed in a unilateral approach that was sure to be a controversial way to divest the people of their federal lands."

The county payments legislation was praised in a new U.S. Forest Service funded report issued today by the Sierra Institute for Community and Environment.

The report examines the impact of Resource Advisory Committees (RAC), groups designed to ensure expanded economic activity and forest restoration in the communities that take part in this program. The RACs are made up of local officials, environmentalists and timber interests.

While these are groups that may not always agree, the report found that in areas where they developed projects by consensus and were approved by the RACs, the relationship between the various factions in the communities improved. The report's Executive Summary notes no RAC project has been appealed to an agency or challenged in a court of law.

The report recommends that the Wyden-Craig legislation be renewed before it expires in September.

Comments on the proposed list of Forest Service lands for sale must be received by March 30 and may be sent by email to SRS_Land_Sales@fs.fed.us. Written comments may be sent to: USDA Forest Service, SRS Comments, Lands 4S, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Mailstop 1124, Washington, DC, 20250-0003. Send faxed comments to (202) 205-1604. The list of lands proposed for sale is contained in the Federal Register Notice found at: http://www.fs.fed.us/