Owner Of Mill Accepts Deal

By the New York Times 
October 4, 1997

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho. One of the nation's most valuable stands of trees is safe from chainsaws, thanks to a land swap between the United States Forest Service and a sawmill owner.

The agreement, to preserve an ancient cedar grove at Upper Priest Lake was forged on Friday after five years of negotiations. "It's a wonderful thing that's happened here," said Bill White of Priest River, the chairman of a local environmental group. But Mr. White said Marc Brinkmeyer, owner of the mill, The Riley Creek Lumber Company, had made an excessive profit. He said he has been told by Forest Service officials that Mr. Brinkmeyer paid less than $2 million for the grove in 1992.

Thanks to the value of old-growth cedar, he obtained $8.7 million worth of Federal land in exchange for the grove.

Dollars inadequately measure the tree's value, said Bob Artis, a land specialist for the Forest Service. "Not only is it old-growth cedar, " Artis said, "but you're picking habitat for sensitive and rare plants. There's also old-growth Western hemlock. Heck, you're getting grizzly bear habitat, cutthroat habitat.

You've got Coeur d'Alene salamanders, fishers, harlequin ducks, wolverines.

There're gobs of wetlands up there. This locks up that whole river system that drains into the lake, all the way down from Canada."

In exchange for the 520 acres at Upper Priest, Riley Creek, of LaClede, received 2,300 acres, mostly prime timberland, and some of it never logged.

Mr. Brinkmeyer said his only regret about the deal was that the Forest Service would not name the grove after his grandmother. Every time we were negotiating it got so hot and contentious that we never got that," he said. "I wish we'd brought it up earlier."

Environmentalists suggested that Mr. Brinkmeyer donate part of the land. He did not do that, but he did discuss cutting some trees, which would have decreased the timber value of the land. Such a move would have scarred the setting.

The largest cedars have trunks 10 feet in diameter. Some were saplings 1,500 years ago.

Mr. Brinkmeyer bought the grove from the Plum Creek Timber Company with the intention of swapping it with the Forest Service, which manages adjacent land. Federal foresters decided long ago that the site should be preserved as a research natural area.

But the value of the trees vastly exceeded the Forest Service's expectations. Mr. Brinkmeyer disputed how the timber volume was calculated and how it was appraised. Both processes were repeated.

"The exchange procedures gave everybody heartburn," said Arlen Olson of Clearwater Realty of Orofino, which arranged the deal.

By 1995, an offer was on the table. But the supervisor of the Idaho Panhandle National Forests, David Wright, turned down the chance to trade 2,800 acres for the 520 acres. "I do not have leeway," Mr. Wright said in 1995, "to say any piece of property is so unbelievable that we'll pay any price for it.".

Negotiations broke off that year but resumed soon afterward.

Timber executives watched warily, fearing an outcry if the giant trees were cut. One promoter of the trade was Ken Kohli, a spokesman for the Intermountain Forest Industry Association.

Last spring, Mr. Wright agreed to proceed with the exchange. He was relieved when nobody appealed his decision. Few Forest Service actions go unchallenged.

"It's a real good piece of business for the public," Mr. Wright said. "It'll add greatly to the diversity of our ecosystem up there."

When the proposal was made public, letters of support poured into his office, including two from Senator Larry E. Craig and Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho.

The Inland Empire Public Land Council, an environmental group frequently at odds with the Forest Service, also went on record in support of the saving the cedar grove despite the cost.

We gritted our teeth and said O.K.," Sara Folger, a staff member said on Friday. "There are very few places in the continental United States that I regard as sacred ground, and that's one of them." Owner of Mill Accepts Deal, Sparing Grove of Old Cedars