Chenoweth Hearing Slams Land Study Environmental Groups Invited Too Late To Participate

Participants at U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth’s hearing on a monumental study of federal lands in the Northwest agreed the multimillion-dollar project should be scrapped and the scientific research passed on to local land managers.

But that sentiment didn’t include the views of environmental groups, who were not represented at the Tuesday hearing. Those groups claim they were invited far too late to attend.

Chenoweth, however, agreed with participants at the panel that it’s time to ditch the study of 100 million acres managed primarily by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.

“This is paralysis by analysis,” the Idaho Republican told her Tuesday congressional oversight session in Nampa, Idaho. “The best government is the most local form of government. But there is some good, sound science we could use on the land.”

The Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project study, which is out in draft form, takes in 72 million acres of federal property. It would guide management in 36 national forests and 14 Bureau of Land Management districts.

Chenoweth, head of the House Resource Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health, said the agencies last May estimated they would spend $35 million on the project by fall. The administration requested $5 million more to complete the documentation, and Chenoweth warned millions more will be needed.

Representatives of resource industries, local governments and off-road motorized vehicle advocates alleged federal researchers either ignored their opinions or altered statistics.

Democratic state Rep. Charles Cuddy of Orofino said his district has fallen victim to a disappearing timber base and closing sawmills.

Owyhee County Commissioner Dick Bass said the federal agencies had not worked with Idaho counties with their own land-use plans.

Northwest Mining Association Executive Director Laura Skaer said her group tried to work with the land managers to point out what it considered flaws in the study.

Chenoweth spokesman Chad Hyslop said Chenoweth contacted the Western Ancient Forest Campaign, but the invitations went out too late. The Pacific Rivers Council, with offices in Idaho and Oregon, also said the timing of their invitation made it impossible to participate.

“If you want to have a balanced hearing, is this the way you do it? I don’t think so,” said David Bales, conservation director of the Pacific Rivers Council.

The Pacific Rivers Council said it would have testified that the Columbia Basin project had gathered lots of good scientific information that isn’t reflected in the preferred management alternative the Forest Service and BLM selected. But the council still wouldn’t scrap the project.