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HomeMy Public PortalAboutIdaho Conservation Leagued(° //0Ys 5fr/P3 Bill on notices dropped BY MATT MULLANEY For The Star -News BOISE - The Idaho Conservation League on Monday unexpectedly asked a Senate committee to hold legislation the ICL had promoted only the previous Friday. The bill would have required the Idaho Department of Lands to give public notice of many of its actions. As a result, the Senate Resources and Environment Committee dropped consideration of SB 1175, which would have required greater public notice of timber sales on state lands, or of exchanges or sales of state land. The committee did vote to send a letter to the State Land Board ex- pressing concern that the board's proceedings be made more accessible to the public. ICL Board Member Mark Solomon told committee members on Monday that the environmental group had changed its mind about its bill during a weekend board meeting. "We believe that a process simi- lar to that proposed (in the ICL bill) will be adopted by the Land Board," Solomon said after the Monday meeting. The ICL wanted the director of the lands department to publish a description of proposed timber sales in newspapers in the areas of pro- posed sales. Solomon said Monday that the ICL's goal of more public comment remained the same, but the group had decided to await the outcome of Auditor J.D. Williams° efforts. Williams is the land board member assigned to study ways of increasing public comment to the board. Williams will hold hearings around the state over the next sev- eral weeks to hear ideas on involv- ing the public in land board deci- sions. His McCall meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 11, beginning at 7 p.m., in the McCall lands department office on Idaho 55 across from The Mill Restaurant. On Friday, when senators asked why the ICL would not wait for the land board to reform itself, Solomon testified that the board was too slow in encouraging public input. "I would like to see this embod- ied in code because I think it would provide a continuity we could be as- sured of," he added. It was not clear from committee proceedings why the ICL had reversed itself over the weekend. Solomon said afterwards that no "deal" had been struck with the land board over other legislation, and that the ICL's decision was "not neces- sarily" as a result of conversations with Williams. Committee members seemed content that controversy over the ICL bill could be avoided. "I appre- ciate you giving us this opportunity to work this•out (without legisla- tion)," Sen. Marguerite McLaughlin, D-Orofino, told Solomon. McLaughlin renewed her pledge, made on Friday, to go personally before the land board to request that they encourage public involvement. Besides the state auditor, land board membership includes the governor, the lieutenant governor, the attorney general and the state superintendent of schools. The land board makes final deci- sions on the use of state lands, with administrative and technical support from the lands department. The ICL maintains that state for- est lands are not being properly managed. The state's harvest goal of 200 million board -feet annually en- dangers the long-term productivity and health of state-owned forests, according to the group. Revenue from timber sales on state land is earmarked for public schools. In 1990, schools received $23 million directly from timber sales and $1.5 million in interest. Overcutting now could mean re- duced revenue for public schools later, Solomon said on Friday. But land department Director Stan Hamilton said he does not believe the department is authorizing cut- ting more than will grow back "on a reasonable rotation basis." -! h n Nokys ICL proposes wilderness Goal of plan is to preserve land, save jobs BY JAMES L. KINCAID The Star -News The Idaho Conservation League last week announced a proposed plan which would designate as wilderness about 6.5 million acres of roadless area of national forest in Idaho, in- cluding several hundred thousand acres in west central Idaho. "We wanted to make sure conser- vationist's views are on the table," Mike Medberry of the ICL in Ketchum said. "If we are going to have debate, we ought to have ev- erybody's opinions in the open. Rep. Larry LaRocco, D-Idaho, began working on proposed legisla- tion in December to attempt to re- solve the future of jobs and recre- ation on 9.3 million acres of road - less land in Idaho. LaRocco is a member of the House Interior and Insular Affairs HELLS CANYON WILDERNESS Committee. He plans to have wilderness legislation introduced in the House by the end of March. "Instead of an ideological debate, it should be focused on specific is- sues," Medberry said. "LaRocco's bill will be the next step, but it is not cast in stone." The ICL proposal would result in no net loss of jobs and would pro- tect habitat for huntable and non - game fish and wildlife, according to ICL's plan. The U.S. Forest Service must protect areas that provide essential habitat for fish, game and rare, threatened and endangered species, according to the proposal. Old growth forests must be maintained, along with long rota- tion times for any logged areas, ac- cording to the plan. Clear cutting and harvest of even -age timber must GOSPEL HUMP WILDERNESS Salmon:: McCall 1 Hell's Canyon Addition 2 Rapid River 3 Salmon River Breaks 4 French Creek/ Patrick Butte 5 Secesh 6 Needles Uer be stopped, along with road building in roadless areas and logging on sensitive soils or on highly erosive slopes. A natural fire policy and timber management practices must be im- plemented to maintain diversity of the landscape, according to the plan. Here is a list of proposed wilder- ness areas in this area included in the ICL's proposal: • Addition to existing Hells Canyon/Seven Devils Wilderness Area: 9,300 acres. • Rapid River: 53,000 acres. • French Creek/Patrick Butte: 141,000 acres. • Salmon River Breaks: 43,300 acres. • Snowbank Mountain: 30,000 acres. • Secesh: 265,000 acres. • Needles: 171,800 acres. • Caton Lake:102,800 acres. The Payette National Forest al- ready includes a large portion of the Secesh and Needles proposals in the Payette's Forest Plan. Six large timber sales are now proposed in the French Creek area, _�_• which Medberry called "the most threatened roadless area in the West." FRANK CHURCH RNR The French Creek area would re WILDERNESS quire a lot of road through lodge pole pines to get to the valuable trees," Medberry said. "That won't �W --= make much money or much sense." The six proposed sales in the French Creek area would total about --•--• 40 million board feet of timber, said ------ Gary Eckert, forester on the Payette =� National Forest. Two proposed sales in the South Fork Salmon River _••�•••„_•••��__: area would total about eight million --�� board feet. A third proposed helicopter sale has been postponed ....._......--_indefinitely, he said. ----- Of the current 9.3 million acres of roadless area in Idaho, there are about four million acres of protected wilderness. The group's proposal would increase protected wilderness 7 Caton Lake"�``� 8 Snowbank Mountain Star -News graphic by Tomi Grote ICL's proposed additions shown in red to about 10.5 million acres. The conservationist's plan would create jobs in forest rehabilitation for displaced workers. Retraining opportunities would be provided for workers along with expanded eco- nomic assistance for education. "We are serious about working with local people on the creation of jobs," Medberry said. "We are try- ing to recognize real change in places like McCall. While some jobs would be lost, others would be gained. We have learned that con- servation without compassion does not work." The plan would support loans to small businesses in rural areas and increased federal payments to coun- ties in lieu of taxes. The tax incentives for businesses would encourage investment in in- dustries other than timber, such as tourism. Idaho Conservation League to file suit over Boise Forest's sale of fire -damaged timber BOISE — A decision to salvage harvest about 206 million board feet of fire -damaged timber in the Boise River drainage, appealed by a number of parties, was upheld last week by Intermountain Region Deputy Forester Jack Blackwell. But John McCarthy of the Idaho Conservation League said Monday that his organization will file suit to stop parts of the plan. "We're going to seek to stop parts of it," McCarthy said. Those parts are the ones that affect roadless areas, fish and wildlife habitat, bull trout and proposed wild and scenic river corridors, he said. "The level we're going to stop will still allow the (annual allowable sale quanity)," he said. That ASQ for the Boise National Forest is 80 million board of timber. McCarthy said the Environmental Impact Statement on the project doesn't analyze the cumu- lative effects on old growth timber and on the future timber supply on the forest. And, he said the forest never says whether they're going to continue with the same level of harvest of green trees in the future. "We're going to stand aside on parts of it, let the trucks roll," he said. The regional decision rejects three appeals from enviromnental interests and one from a tim- ber industry association. "I find no reason to delay salvage of fire killed timber in the Boise River Project," Blackwell said in a prepared statement announcing his decision. In denying the appeals, he also directed the Boise Forest to involve more Forest Service and academic researchers in the project, and to ensure there is an adequate budget and adequate admin- istration for all phases of the project. Appeals had been filed by the Cove Mallard Coalition, Salmon Selway Project; a coalition comprised of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, the Ecology Center, Inc., the Idaho Sporting Congress and Northern Rockies Preservation Project; and by Gary McFarlane. He also denied the appeal from Associated Logging Contractors Inc., which asked for more use of conventional logging systems instead of just helicopter log- ging. The Forest Service initially received seven appeals on the project, but one was subsequent- ly dismissed and two more withdrawn by appli- cants. The Boise River Wildfire Recovery Project will include several sales in a 200,000-acre area burned by fires last summer. Almost all harvest will be by helicopter, as much of the area is road - less. Soil stabilization work and reseeding was done last summer as soon as fires were out. The pro- ject also includes rebuilding of bridges and other recreation facilities along with more stabilization work after timber harvest. The Forest Service has already solicited bids for some of the sales, which is allowed during the appeal period as long as no sales are award- ed. After a mandatory 15-day stay, the bids can be awarded and harvest can begin. If the timber is not harvested soon, it will have little econom- ic benefit. Blackwell's decision is the final administra- tion determination of the Department of Agriculture. Appellants can either accept the decision or take their concerns to federal court. In his announcement, Blackwell addressed a procedural concern raised by several appellants, who claimed forest officials should have revised the forest's Land and Resource Management Plan for the recovery project, rather than doing a sep- arate Environmental Impact Statement. He said the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management are developing an ecosystem -based strategy for managing all National Forest and public lands in the upper Columbia River basin in Idaho, Montana, Utah, Nevada and Wyoming. That planning activity may amend Forest Service regional guides and will amend Forest Service and BLM land use plans. A final EIS for the basin plan is due in October of 1996.