Timber Lobbyist Proposes Changing Old Lake Law

Senate Resources & Environment Committee members were stumped Monday when a timber lobbyist proposed a change in an obscure 1927 law that says Idaho’s lakeshores should be reserved as health resorts and recreation places.

Joe Hinson, of the Intermountain Forest Industry Association, said he just wanted to clear up an inconsistency between the old law and the Idaho constitution.

In a recent lawsuit, the Selkirk-Priest Basin Association drew on the old law as one of its arguments that it had standing to sue to stop a timber sale. The land in question fronted a stream, which flowed into Priest Lake.

Hinson wants a line inserted into the old law to exempt state endowment lands, which the constitution requires to be managed for long-term financial gain for the school endowment fund. The state’s major source of revenue from those lands is timber harvesting.

The committee’s vote to introduce the bill was unanimous, although several members said they didn’t understand the change.

, DataTimes