Lance Playing Name Game With Feds Forest Service Begins Withholding Names Of Cabin Owners On Public Land

Idaho Attorney General Al Lance is fightin’ mad that the federal government has decided the names of people who hold leases on Forest Service land should be an official secret.

For years, the Forest Service has routinely provided the names and addresses to 21 Idaho counties - including all North Idaho counties - so the counties could assess property taxes. Owners of cabins on Forest Service land pay Idaho property taxes on the buildings, although the ground underneath them is public.

The abrupt change this year comes because a government lawyer in Washington, D.C., issued a legal opinion saying lease-holders have a “significant privacy interest” - an argument Lance contends is “just flat wrong.”

“It’s the people’s land,” Lance said. “As a citizen, I have an absolute right to know who’s leasing my land - an absolute right.”

After getting no response to two letters challenging the legal opinion, Lance now has filed requests for the names and addresses under the Freedom of Information Act. If the requests are denied, he said, “We’ll take him to court and we’ll win. And I would expect to recover my costs and my attorney fees for the taxpayers of the state of Idaho.”

Kenneth Cohen, the U.S. Department of Agriculture attorney who wrote the opinion, said, “We recognize the interest of state governments. We’re just trying to do our best in applying the law.”

Asked how real estate ownership, which is public record in nearly all cases, could be considered a private matter, Cohen said lease-holders don’t own property. When told that they own and pay taxes on buildings built on public land, he said he has no knowledge in that area.

“I’m not a Forest Service attorney,” Cohen said.

Bonner County Assessor Tim Cochran said his county has more than 200 private cabins on federal land, most of them on Priest Lake. Usually, cabin owners record bills of sale with the county when the leases are transferred, so the county doesn’t have to rely on the federal government.

But Cochran said the Forest Service’s new policy makes little sense.

“I think that’s probably silly, and I’d agree with the attorney general,” he said. “It’s not very private if we have the name and address on our assessment roll. It’s open to the public.”

Lance said he feels like Idaho has been trying to improve its relationship with the federal government, and something like this chips away at the progress.

“It just seems to me that this adds fuel to an unnecessary fire,” he said.

When the federal government tries to withhold information about public land from citizens, it stokes suspicions that lead to conspiracy theories and the like, he said.

“I think it just … unnecessarily creates friction between the state of Idaho and the federal government.”

Cohen said his job is just to apply the law, regardless of who is seeking access to the information. As far as how counties are to get information for property tax purposes, he said, “That’s not for me to answer.”

Lance said he’ll do whatever it takes to reverse the policy. Otherwise, counties could find themselves unable to tax cabins on public land, forcing everyone else in the county to pay more in property taxes to make up the difference.

“If I have to, I’ll call Janet Reno,” Lance said. “I do have her home number.”

, DataTimes