Court May Take Another Swing At Timber Ruling Attorney Asks Justices To Reconsider Law That Makes Appeals Of State Sales Difficult

The Idaho Supreme Court is being asked to reconsider a June ruling that prohibits citizen appeals of all state timber sales.

That case centered on Priest Lake timber sales, challenged by the Selkirk Priest Basin Association. The state high court rejected arguments that a timber sale of 7.4 million board feet on Bugle Ridge would increase erosion, degrade water, and hurt grizzly bears and other wildlife.

More significantly, the Idaho Supreme Court rejected arguments that it’s unconstitutional for the state to require that people post a bond in order to file suit over a timber sale. State law requires that the bond cover 10 percent of the value of the timber sale being challenged.

But the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down a similar Oregon law that required renters to post bond before going to court to appeal their eviction on the grounds it violated the due process and equal protection guarantees of the constitution, said Laird J. Lucas, an attorney for the Land and Water Fund. He represented the Selkirk group.

The Idaho Supreme Court rarely agrees to reconsider its rulings, said Lucas. But he believes the issue is important enough to try again.

“State management is a travesty,” he said. “Citizens’ favorite areas are being clearcut, bulldozed and destroyed.

“If the state is not going to require prudent, long-term management of its lands, people who care about the resources ought to be able to challenge that,” Lucas said. Otherwise, the state lands won’t even produce timber over the long term, he said.

The ability to challenge state timber sales is important considering that Idaho is attempting to take over management of Forest Service land. “If the state takes over, the land managers will be even less accountable to the public,” Lucas said.

The Idaho Forest Industry Association, which joined the suit on the side of the state, agrees that odds are low this challenge will succeed. “This is a last, desperate attempt,” said Joe Hinson, executive vice president of the association. He believes the Selkirk Priest Basin group is overlooking a key issue about the timber ground in question.

“These never have been public lands and they aren’t now,” Hinson said. “The public can certainly use them for recreation.

But “these lands are granted to the state with the express guarantee they produce revenue for endowed institutions,” primarily public schools, Hinson said.

The Idaho Supreme Court decision also was important because it prevents environmentalists from crippling the state timber sale program with appeals as they have the Forest Service program, Hinson said.

Lucas, attorney for the Selkirk group, said the numbers easily dispute that. “There have been two appeals of state timber sales that we know of in this century.”

, DataTimes