Forest Service identifies land for potential swap

LEWISTON – Officials with the Clearwater National Forest in North Idaho are offering to trade 28,000 acres of public land for 40,000 acres of land belonging to a timber company that includes portions of the Lewis and Clark and Nez Perce National Historic Trails.

U.S. Forest Service officials on Wednesday unveiled the portions of public land they are willing to trade for the heavily logged land in the Upper Lochsa River Basin belonging to Western Pacific Timber. The land includes important fish and wildlife habitat.

The timber company is owned by lumberman and developer Tim Blixseth, who bought the land in 2005 from the Plum Creek Timber Co. and then announced he was interested in trading it for public land.

“It’s a win-win for the company and for the Forest Service,” Blixseth said of the possible trade. “It’s got historic value; it’s got habitat value.”

If the exchange goes through, Blixseth said the land he obtains will be run as a tree farm for logging.

Tom Reilly, supervisor of the Clearwater National Forest, said the trade will eliminate some of the checkerboard pattern of public land in the region that makes it hard to manage.

“I haven’t heard anybody object to the Forest Service acquiring the 40,000 acres in the Upper Locsha,” Reilly said. “Where the rub is going to be is what we have to trade to get it. It’s going to be tough for some people to swallow.”

Teresa Trulock, a resource specialist with the Clearwater National Forest, said the public land in the trade comes from three areas.

She said about 11,500 acres are scattered to the east, west and north of Elk City. Another 1,500 acres are in small parcels isolated from other national forest lands in the Panhandle National Forest.

The rest, about 15,000 acres, is in the Clearwater National Forest.

The Nez Perce Tribe and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation have supported the trade because of the historic significance and good habitat that is contained in the Upper Lochsa River Basin.

Public meetings about the proposed trade will likely begin in November, Trulock said.