Land Swap In The Works
Forest Service Likely To Trade 
with Idaho Forest Industries

Land swap in the works Forest Service likely to trade with Idaho Forest Industries

SANDPOINT The U.S. Forest Service is expected to decide soon whether to swap 1,235 acres of its Panhandle property for 1,749 acres of private land.

Most of the trade would be between Idaho Forest Industries Inc. and the Forest Service, both of whom want to consolidate properties by trading isolated inholdings.

"This is what exchanges were meant to do," said Mike Welling, IFI's vice president of resources. "It's a good, fair trade for everybody. ... It's not stumps for trees."

But the Western Land Exchange, an environmental watchdog group based in Seattle, is skeptical.

The organization recently submitted comments on the environmental assessment of the proposed trade, which was arranged by Olson Land Co. of Orofino, Idaho. The company has been involved in several federal land trades in the region.

"We're very, very dubious of this project," said Janine Blaeloch of Western Land Exchange. "We're getting a lot more land, and they're getting a lot more board feet. This is a pattern we're seeing a lot.

"In many cases, it's just not a good deal for the public. ... If we're giving up forest, we're giving up habitat."

IFI and the Forest Service acknowledge that the company would get more productive timberland than the Forest Service. The federal parcels being traded away contain an estimated 14.2 million board feet of timber while the private lands contain about 10.2 million board feet.

"There is a little more cut-over land on the non-federal side," said Jim Dvoracek of the Panhandle National Forests. "Most of those lands aren't cut over that much."

One exception is an 80-acre parcel that Dvoracek described as a "regeneration cut," which left only some seed trees.

The primary purpose of the exchange, he said, is to consolidate and acquire the in-holdings.

"If you look at most of these parcels, the ones we're acquiring, most of them are completely surrounded by National Forest land," Dvoracek said.

As for the Forest Service inholdings on IFI's property, most don't have any access and haven't seen any harvest, he and Welling said.

As for the public benefits of the trade, the Forest Service would increase its big game habitat by more than 500 acres, increase fish-bearing streams by more than three miles and save the Forest Service an estimated $588,000 in management costs over the next 10 years.

The agency also would get 59 acres on the Salmon River in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. The old Tappen Ranch site was previously owned and managed by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. The state exchanged the ranch property for winter range on the Boise Front.

The Tappen Ranch would be managed as wilderness, Dvoracek said.

The only negative effect on wildlife that the Forest Service identified in its assessment was the loss of 237 acres of owl nesting habitat.

The Western Land Exchange is asking the Forest Service to take no action on the exchange until a full environmental impact statement can be conducted.

"We are concerned that much of the land we are getting in this deal is going to contain bad roads, completely logged over land and resource problems," the Western Land Exchange wrote to the Forest Service.

Welling said that's "100 percent wrong. ... It's all very good land. The Forest Service wants this stuff."

Also included in the exchange would be federal parcels along Priest Lake that are being used by sewer districts for sewage treatment. Those properties would be conveyed to the sewer districts through IFI.

Memo: Susan Drumheller can be reached at (208) 263-6441 or by e-mail at susand@spokesman.com  

This sidebar appeared with the story: LAND EXCHANGE Comments sought A copy of the environmental assessment is available at the Panhandle National Forests supervisor's office, 3815 Schreiber Way, Coeur d'Alene. Comments will be accepted on the proposed land swap until March 3 and should be directed to David Wright, forest supervisor.