Public land sales

Rey: Proponents of Public Land Sale Out There, Just Silent

By Greg Lemon, 2-28-06

Supporters of the Bush Administration’s controversial public land sale have been quiet, but they’re out there, said Department of Agriculture Undersecretary, Mark Rey during a Tuesday press conference.

“What I’m hearing is a level of concern that’s not surprising," Rey told reporters. “Land sales are controversial."

Support has come from some county officials around the country who are looking forward to getting more land on the tax rolls, Rey said.

The press conference was held to announce the beginning of a 30-day public comment session on the proposal.

Even though people have been vocal with their frustration, since the land sale was announced earlier this month, no other options have come forward to fund the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act, he said.

“So far no one else has found another alternative."

Rey also announced a minor shift in the plan. Now, if county and state governments along with land trusts show interest in a piece of land the Forest Service wants to sell, they will have a non-competitive option to buy it for fair-market value.

This change was made because the agency recognized some of the lands may not be suitable as National Forest, but they still have public value, he said.

After the public comment period is over, the Forest Service will analyze what has been submitted and then the plan will go on to Congress. All three of Montana’s delegates have publicly opposed the plan.

Last week, Democratic Sen. Max Baucus held a town meeting in Missoula, vowing to lead a grassroots effort to defeat the sale of public lands.

During the meeting Baucus admonished the Bush Administration for coupling the secure rural school act, which has benefited many Montana counties, with the sale of public lands.

Jean Curtiss, Missoula County Commissioner, agrees with Baucus.

She doesn’t know how the secure rural schools act should be funded: “But don’t give me the story you have to sell lands to pay for it."

Missoula County benefits greatly from the act, which has allowed the county to replace old, outdated road equipment during the past few years, she said.

The act gives the county a fixed amount they can plan their budget around, Curtiss said. Before the act was passed in 2000, the counties received 25 percent of the Forest Service timber sales. That amount varied from year to year, but since the mid-1980s, it became increasingly less.

The act stabilized the federal money coming to counties by averaging the amount they were receiving in the mid-1970s, Rey said.

Curtiss didn’t know off-hand how much Missoula County received each year from the program, but she said it was “several hundred thousand dollars." Two-thirds of this money goes to roads and a third goes to schools.

The Forest Service land sale would fund the program until it was phased out by the year 2011, Rey said, which would allow counties to transition to not depending on the money.

But that’s unfair for forested counties, where the Forest Service is the largest land owner. “To me it’s an obligation of the federal government when the majority of our county is public land that the public uses," Curtiss said.

Rey insisted that the pieces for sale didn’t fit into the National Forest system anymore. Many were pieces isolated, surrounded by private land.

“Some of these parcels serve public needs but they don’t serve National Forest needs," he said.

The Forest Service has programs that local governments, land trust groups or private landowners can use to buy development easements on pieces of land, which could protect some of these pieces from being developed, he said. But not all of these lands should be protected.

“Our judgment is these tracts might be places where development could occur," Rey said.

In all, he estimates the agency will sell about 175,000 acres of land to fund the $800 million it is expected to cost to fund five more years of the secure rural schools act. But about 300,000 acres will be on the list of potential land for sale.

If Congress approves the sale, Rey said the agency will likely auction the land locally, selling the most valuable and least controversial pieces first.

To comment on the proposal, e-mail the Forest Service at SRS_Land_Sales@fs.fed.us

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey's title.

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