Federal official defends sale of public lands

WASHINGTON – As a staffer for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee in the 1990s, Mark Rey worked closely with Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, to craft federal forestry legislation.

Now Rey is the federal government’s chief steward of public lands. And on Tuesday, he told that same Senate committee why public lands should be auctioned off to help pay for a law that Craig co-authored.

Under the plan, which would require congressional approval, the government would sell off tracts of land identified by the U.S. Forest Service as isolated or difficult to manage. The proposed land sales include about 25,500 acres in Idaho and 7,500 acres in Washington.

Potentially on the auction block are several recreation sites near Coeur d’Alene, including the English Point trail network and Mokins Bay campground along Hayden Lake. The proposal also targets several large Colville National Forest tracts in northeastern Washington.

The goal of the sales is to provide $800 million to fund the so-called Craig-Wyden county payments law, a measure designed to boost road and school funding for rural counties suffering from declining timber receipts. Since the federal government doesn’t pay property taxes, the law provides an economic safety net for counties dependent on federal timber revenues.

Washington collected nearly $46 million in county payments in fiscal 2005; Idaho collected about $23.5 million. The administration’s proposal would phase out the payments over five years.

Rey, the agriculture undersecretary for natural resources and environment, called the land sales plan a “last alternative” but said it was the only funding option on the table.

The administration has identified about 300,000 acres, but “half of that would probably do the job,” Rey said. He said the sales would stop after reaching the $800 million target.

Craig, sounding skeptical at the hearing, asked whether the land should be traded or exchanged rather than sold outright.

“I am one who has never believed that we ought to use surplus properties to supply the general fund,” Craig said.

But a spokesman for Craig said after the hearing that the senator was looking at “any and all” revenue sources, and that he hadn’t yet decided whether to support the administration’s proposal.

The law’s other chief architect, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., was unequivocal in his criticism, saying the proposal would “dismantle” the county payments law and vowing to fight it in Congress.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., a committee member, criticized the administration’s proposal in a statement, calling it a “public lands fire sale” that would “gut funding for rural schools, emergency services, and other vital infrastructure.”

Tuesday marked the first day for public comments on the proposal – a process that could affect which lands are put up for sale if the proposal gets congressional approval. In a conference call with reporters after the hearing, Rey said the land would be prioritized, with the least controversial and most valuable parcels to be first on the auction block.

Under the proposal, state and local governments would have a “right of first refusal,” giving them the first shot at buying the land at fair market value, Rey said.

Both houses of Congress are considering legislation to reauthorize the county payments law. But, Rey said, “Without funding, reauthorization is an empty gesture.”