For Once, All Sides Agree: Save The Cedars; So Do It
The timber industry and environmentalists rarely agree on anything. So when they do, politicians and bureaucracies like the U.S. Forest Service should listen up. Both sides, for example, believe that a stand of ancient cedars on Upper Priest Lake is unique and worth saving - regardless of price. The granola heads predictably speak in terms of valuable habitat and threaten, “There will be hell to pay if they cut it.” Surprisingly, the chainsaw brigade gives this woodman-spare-that-tree effort mega-dittos. Said industry spokesman Ken Kohli: “Anybody with two eyes over the age of 6 would have to realize this is an ecologically unique place. It’s also very accessible.” But the price for the 520 acres apparently has doubled since the USFS began dragging its feet. Now, Forest Service officials say it’s too high. It doesn’t take a tree hugger to realize the USFS will have a public relations disaster on its hands if the public sees logging trucks hauling giant cedars up to 1,500 years old. The agency needs to quit fiddling and get this purchase done.
Eureka! They’ve found North Idaho
Four attaboys and one attagirl to the Idaho Land Board for bringing its rare road show to Coeur d’Alene this week. It’s only the second time in recent history that the board has met outside Boise, according to state Controller J.D. Williams. It visited Sandpoint two years ago. All members were present Tuesday: Gov. Phil Batt, Superintendent of Schools Anne Fox, Secretary of State Pete Cenarrusa, Attorney General Al Lance and Williams. That’s an impressive lineup. It’d be nice if the board could schedule an annual meeting in the north - just to assure us up here that Boise denizens know the state doesn’t end at Hailey.
Danger: Loose cannons firing
You gotta wonder where Kelly Walton gets his advice. One day, he’s crawling in bed with the United States Militia Association, and the next, he’s criticizing its leader. Last week, Walton embraced the organization as a “substantial signature-gathering force” in his petition drive to put Anti-Gay Initiative II and two other measures on the 1996 ballot. Then, two days later, he repudiated the militia as a “group that can’t shoot straight.” In the interim, Walton apparently heard about militia leader Sam Sherwood telling followers at a Boise meeting to “Go up and look legislators in the face, because someday you may be forced to blow it off.” (Sherwood now denies the statement.) Said Walton: “(U.S. Rep.) Chenoweth regards him as a loose cannon.” Hmmm. Do you suppose she says the same thing about Walton?
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