Bill Allows Logging On Lake Shore Endowment Lands Would Lose Recreation Designation

More than 200,000 acres adjacent to Priest Lake no longer would be designated for recreation, under legislation approved Monday by a Senate committee.

Joe Hinson of the Intermountain Forest Industry Association proposed the change, which could help his association and the state Department of Lands in a lawsuit filed by the Selkirk-Priest Basin Association.

The association cited an obscure 1927 state law as one of its arguments that it had standing to sue to stop a timber sale near Priest Lake. The law says lake shores should be “devoted to health and recreational use.”

Hinson contends the law conflicts with the constitutional requirement that all state endowment lands be managed for the benefit of the school endowment fund. In practice, that means the lands are managed for timber harvest.

His bill leaves the 1927 law on the books, but inserts a clause saying it doesn’t apply to state endowment lands. At Priest Lake, that means the entire east side of the lake.

The change also affects endowment lands adjacent to Pend Oreille, Coeur d’Alene and Payette lakes.

Hinson and Stan Hamilton, of the Idaho Department of Lands, said the lakeside property has been managed for timber all this time anyway. “We don’t manage recreation,” Hamilton told the Senate Resources Committee. “We’ve managed these lands for timber purposes.”

Sen. Mary Lou Reed, D-Coeur d’Alene, argued against the bill. “We’re talking about Priest Lake,” she said. “It is our crown jewel.”

Karl Brooks of the Idaho Conservation League cautioned against trying to interfere with a pending court case through legislation.

“It’s been on the books for a long time because the Legislature 70 years ago thought the lakes had unique values. This bill would change that subtle policy, and turn those timberlands into state timber farms. It would uncouple the lands from the lakes.”

Hinson said the two timber sales in question in the lawsuit already are under way, and one is nearly finished. But the lawsuit, part of which is pending before the state Supreme Court, will set a precedent on such issues, he said.

, DataTimes