A to Z deal concerning

Most Americans want their national forests to be controlled by the U.S. Forest Service, not corporate America. A precedent-setting decision by a Colville National Forest official changed this. On Sept. 18, 2013, forest supervisor Rodney Smoldon signed and awarded the one-of-a-kind A to Z stewardship contract that gave a local lumber mill control of logging in the 84.4-square-mile Mill Creek drainage. Mill Creek is a popular blue-ribbon trout stream.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ fingerprints are all over this deal. The contract allows the only lumber corporation in Colville to determine the size and location of the logging units, choose the trees to be logged, determine the value of the trees and set fire to the slash.

Smoldon has just proposed the first timber sale governed by the A to Z contract specifications. The proposed Middle & South Fork Mill Creek timber sale allows 27 square miles to be logged and 20.5 miles of logging road to be built.

Smoldon is accepting comments on this timber sale. He will send you hard copies of the public comment information package if you call (509) 684-7000 and request it. It’s also posted online.

Dick Artley

Grangeville, Idaho