Land Swap Issue Hits Campaign Environmental Groups Ask Candidates To Back Moratorium On Public-Private Trades

Following a critical government review of public land trades, environmental groups from Washington to Florida are asking presidential candidates to stop the swaps.

The letter - addressing Al Gore, George W. Bush, Pat Buchanan and Ralph Nader - urges the candidates to support a land exchange moratorium until problems with the program are fixed.

“For a long time, the consequences of land exchanges were hidden from the public,” states the letter, signed by more than 120 groups, including eight from Idaho and 13 from Washington. “Now, a wake-up call has been issued that cannot be ignored.”

A General Accounting Office report in mid-July criticized the public land exchange program for costing taxpayers too much money while providing questionable public benefits.

The GAO - the nonpartisan research arm of Congress - recommended a moratorium on swaps until reforms are made.

Public agencies often trade public land for private property to snare hunting or fishing access, consolidate parcels, or protect valuable wildlife habitat.

Land trades in Idaho, Washington and elsewhere have drawn considerable public controversy fueled by the often confidential nature of negotiations between agencies and private companies.

“Across the nation, timber companies, mining conglomerates, ranchers, developers and third-party exchange brokers are using trades as a way to seize valuable land and resources while appearing to act for the public good,” said Janine Blaeloch, with the Western Land Exchange Project.

The groups ask the candidates to consider restricting or barring ex- changes facilitated by third parties, brokers generally paid by the private parties involved in the trades.

Orofino-based Clearwater Land Exchange facilitates many trades in Idaho as a third-party broker.

Clearwater was set to propose a massive statewide 2-million-acre exchange but withdrew it last year after newspaper stories detailed the proposal.

Clearwater associates put together the Upper Priest Lake exchange, which put an ancient grove of cedars into public hands. It also cost the government more than $7 million due to inflated appraisal values, Blaeloch alleges.

Jim Cochrane, a partner at Clearwater Land, dismissed the charges against the Priest Lake swap and the letter itself.

“I’m curious who calculated that seeing as how we had the top appraisers in the country who went through that,” Cochrane said Wednesday.

The groups signing the letter don’t include heavy hitters such as The Nature Conservancy, he said.

“If this was such a good idea, how come they didn’t all sign up?”

Groups signing the letter do include Washington, D.C., based Friends of the Earth and numerous established grassroots groups and businesses, organizers say.

The letter goes beyond the GAO report by seeking reforms to congressionally approved land trades that often occur out of the public eye.

“These trades circumvent even the rudimentary requirements the agencies must meet,” the letter says.