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Federal Forest Land Sale Plan Includes State

Posted on: Wednesday, 29 March 2006, 12:00 CST

By Jay F. Marks, The Daily Oklahoman

Mar. 29--A plan to continue funding rural roads and schools could put a "For Sale" sign on more than 3,000 acres of federal forest land in southeast Oklahoma. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service still is accepting comment on a proposal to sell more than 300,000 acres of forest nationwide to pay for another five years of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000. The legislation expires at the end of 2006 after pumping nearly $2 billion into about 700 counties and 4,000 school districts that are home to national forests. The land sale -- which could net as much as $800 million -- is meant to keep that program running. "Without it, these rural schools and counties ... could just go belly up," said Paul Beddoe, associate legislative director for the National Association of Counties. The Oklahoma land included in the sale proposal announced Feb. 28 is in McCurtain and Le Flore counties. 'It's basically just forest land, just trees' The list includes about 1,200 acres of land in Le Flore County on the outskirts of the Ouachita National Forest. The rest, in McCurtain County, is left over from a 1996 land swap with the Weyerhaeuser Co., an international forest products company. "It's basically just forest land, just trees," said Kelly Russell, a district ranger for the Forest Service in Talihina. A portion of the land that could become available in McCurtain County is adjacent to the 15,000-acre Little River National Wildlife Refuge. U.S. Rep. Dan Boren, whose district includes those two counties, said he is willing to consider the sale plan "Our federal lands have to be managed efficiently," said Boren, D-Muskogee. "The Forest Service is telling us that the parcels of land it proposes putting up for sale are remote, expensive to manage or no longer meet public needs. "It's important our limited resources be applied where they will do the most good." Boren is a member of the House Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over public lands, so his office has heard from a number of national organizations about the plan, spokesman Nick Choate said. State residents really haven't had anything to say. Boren said the proposal could be good for rural residents because the sale of federal forest land would put that property back on the tax rolls. "Le Flore and McCurtain counties alone stand to gain more than $1 million for roads and schools from this sale," he said. "We have to look at the plan closely in Congress to make sure it's what's best for the public and not just a quick fix to a budget problem." Funding solution The Secure Rural Schools law, commonly known as Payments to States, was meant to offset the decline in revenue from timber harvest. It stabilized payments to counties and school districts. Those payments totaled more than $6 million for Le Flore and McCurtain counties over the past five years. Proceeds from the proposed sale of federal forest land would be put in a pot to continue the popular and successful program for another five years, Forest Service spokesman Dan Jiron said. He said the sale would allow the program to continue, even though there is no funding for it in the fiscal 2007 federal budget. Beddoe said the National Association of Counties supports the plan because it is the only one that would preserve the program, although at a reduced level. Ideally, the organization wants to see the program reauthorized at full strength, he said, and would welcome any funding ideas.

The National Forest Counties and Schools Coalition and the National Education Association also have endorsed the plan, according to Boren's office. The Sierra Club is among those opposing it, launching a petition drive to halt the proposed sale. "We strongly oppose this proposal and other efforts to open public forest lands to private development," according to the petition. "Our government should be in the business of protecting our natural heritage, not selling it off to the highest bidder."

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Daily Oklahoman

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Source: The Daily Oklahoman

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