Forest Service extends public comment deadline

WASHINGTON – People who want to say something about the Bush administration’s plan to sell up to 300,000 acres of public land now have another month to say it.

The comment period on the proposal was set to expire Thursday, but a spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service said it received numerous requests for more time, including some from members of Congress. The agency has received more than 4,700 comments so far, she said.

Under the proposal, the revenue generated by the land sales would help pay for roads and schools in rural counties suffering from declining federal timber receipts. The lands targeted for sale include some 26,000 acres in Idaho – including English Point near Coeur d’Alene – and nearly 7,500 acres in Washington.

Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, announced last week that he would oppose the plan. Craig, one of the authors of the county payments program, heads the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests, which would have to approve the land sale proposal.

Craig’s spokesman, Dan Whiting, said Thursday that the extended comment period shows the Bush administration’s willingness to listen to the public’s opinion about which lands would be appropriate to sell.

“In the Coeur d’Alene area, it’s obvious that some (lands) aren’t,” Whiting said.