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.