Note: There is a maximum of 200 words per comment. If you wish to post more, please visit our forum.
Proposed land sale involves land from all parts of Oregon
Monday, February 20, 2006 | No comments posted.
THE DALLES (AP) - The Bush administration plan to sell off 300,000 acres of public land is expected to include more than 10,000 acres in Oregon - from a parking lot in The Dalles to land in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area.
Forest Service officials say the sales in dozens of states are needed to raise $800 million over the next five years to pay for schools and roads in rural counties hurt by logging cutbacks on federal land. Congress would have to approve the land sales, and some Western lawmakers have already criticized the plan, saying the short-term gains would be offset by the permanent loss of public lands.
If approved, it would be the largest sale of forest land in decades.
Most of the lands being considered for sale are isolated chunks, separated from national forests. Many were candidates for land exchanges to help consolidate federal land holdings in contiguous forests. In Oregon 10,568 acres could be sold to the highest bidder, and in Washington, 7,516 acres.
In Oregon, there's little pattern to the lands potentially up for sale.
One parcel, at six-tenths of an acre, sits in the middle of a former grocery store parking lot in The Dalles. It is an oddity of the national forest system, owned at one time by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, then transferred to the U.S. Forest Service. Another site, of five acres, is being farmed on a bluff above the Sandy and Columbia rivers in eastern Multnomah County. More are scattered through Oregon forests and high deserts from the Medford area to the Wallowa Mountains.
In the Columbia River Gorge, most of the nearly 700 acres are on the Washington side of the river, including one 160-acre parcel and a 320-acre parcel across the Columbia and slightly downriver from the mouth of the Deschutes River.
A 30-day public comment period is to begin in March, after maps detailing the sites nationwide are posted on the U.S. Forest Service Web site.
“We're definitely interested in hearing what the public has to say about this,” said Julie Cox, a Forest Service spokeswoman in Portland.
Forest Service officials say the sales in dozens of states are needed to raise $800 million over the next five years to pay for schools and roads in rural counties hurt by logging cutbacks on federal land. Congress would have to approve the land sales, and some Western lawmakers have already criticized the plan, saying the short-term gains would be offset by the permanent loss of public lands.
If approved, it would be the largest sale of forest land in decades.
Most of the lands being considered for sale are isolated chunks, separated from national forests. Many were candidates for land exchanges to help consolidate federal land holdings in contiguous forests. In Oregon 10,568 acres could be sold to the highest bidder, and in Washington, 7,516 acres.
In Oregon, there's little pattern to the lands potentially up for sale.
One parcel, at six-tenths of an acre, sits in the middle of a former grocery store parking lot in The Dalles. It is an oddity of the national forest system, owned at one time by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, then transferred to the U.S. Forest Service. Another site, of five acres, is being farmed on a bluff above the Sandy and Columbia rivers in eastern Multnomah County. More are scattered through Oregon forests and high deserts from the Medford area to the Wallowa Mountains.
In the Columbia River Gorge, most of the nearly 700 acres are on the Washington side of the river, including one 160-acre parcel and a 320-acre parcel across the Columbia and slightly downriver from the mouth of the Deschutes River.
A 30-day public comment period is to begin in March, after maps detailing the sites nationwide are posted on the U.S. Forest Service Web site.
“We're definitely interested in hearing what the public has to say about this,” said Julie Cox, a Forest Service spokeswoman in Portland.
The comments below are from users of theworldlink.com and do not necessarily represent the views of The World or Lee Enterprises. Participation Guidelines
Note: There is a maximum of 200 words per comment. If you wish to post more, please visit our forum.
Note: There is a maximum of 200 words per comment. If you wish to post more, please visit our forum.
Not already registered?
The World welcomes your comments about stories, and we encourage a robust dialogue on this site. All comments must meet reasonable standards of decency and civility.
Please follow these basic rules:
- No defamatory comments about individuals or businesses.
- No deliberately false information.
- No obscenity or racially offensive language.
- No harassment, verbal abuse, threats or personal attacks.
- No information that invades another person's privacy.
- No business solicitations or charitable solicitations.
Comments that violate these standards will not be posted. Users with repeated violations may be banned from future posting.Comments will be approved throughout the day during business hours. After hours and weekend comments may not appear until the following business day. It may take a couple of hours before comments are approved.
The World generally does not edit comments, but we reserve the right to edit any comment that does not meet our standards.
Close Guidelines