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SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
HUGE LAND SWAP PROPOSED
IDAHO BROKER CRAFTS TRADE THAT
MAY INVOLVE 2 MILLION ACRES
Tuesday, March 16, 1999
Section: MAIN NEWS
Edition: SPOKANE
Page: A1
BYLINE: By Ken Olsen Staff writer
Memo: This sidebar appeared with the story:

AT A GLANCE

LAND SWAP

Government officials and others who attended presentations on a proposed

statewide land trade say it includes:

Selling Forest Service land in North Idaho and using the proceeds to purchase public
access - in the form of conservation easments - to the Sawtooth National Recreation
Area.

Selling or trading most Idaho Fish and Game Department land across the state,
including transferring acreage in the St. Joe River drainage to the U.S. Forest
Service. In many cases, the land would be disposed of in exchange for ``future''
conservation easements.

Transferring 240,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management Land north of New

Meadows to the Forest Service.

Trade to consolidate ownership and management of 700,000 acres of southern

Idaho land now under Forest Service, BLM, state and private ownership or
management.

Trading isolated private tracts on national forests for land more accessible to the
owners.

Trading Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management land for private land to end
the management headaches created by the square-mile blocks of ``checker board''
timber-industry land - originally given to the railroads as an inducement to lay tracks
across Idaho - that now pock federal land.

Giving federal protection to critical endangered species habitat.

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Copyright 1999, The Idaho Spokesman-Review

For the past five years, an Idaho broker quietly has been crafting a land exchange
that could mean some 2 million acres of federal, state and private property would
change hands.

It would be the largest swap ever in the Pacific Northwest.

If the plan is successful, federal timberlands would end up in state or private hands -
with fewer restrictions on logging, mining and other development.
And wildlife habitat now controlled by the Idaho Fish and Game Department would
be sold to pay for sportsmen's easements on private lands.

Darrel Olson, a partner in the company proposing the deal, said the trade would
make government land management more efficient by eliminating mixed ownership,
consolidating isolated parcels and eliminating private inholdings.

It also would put critical endangered species habitat in the hands of federal agencies,
he said. And people whose property is surrounded by public land would get
accessible land elsewhere.

Overall, Olson said, the public will be pleased as the massive proposal unfolds. But
his company, Clearwater Land Exchange, isn't ready to share details.

While some environmentalists, sportsmen and politicians have been told of the
project, the public hasn't been privy to what proponents call a concept and
opponents worry is a done deal.

Federal agencies and the Idaho Land Board normally approve their own land
exchanges. Federal land trades often involve detailed environmental analysis unless
Congress steps in and passes a law requiring the trade. That's happening with
increasing frequency on large exchanges.

A handful of Boise-area groups said they've been approached for their support of the
Idaho trade. Most are skeptical.

``It looks like a considerable amount of state endowment land could end up in
private hands,'' said Jack Fisher of Idaho Wildlife Federation, a sportsmen's group.

Wildlife Federation member Ken Vargeson is fuming after hearing Forest Service
and Bureau of Land Management lands could become private as part of the deal. He
walked out of Clearwater Land's pitch.

``They made it sound as though they were doing the whole world a favor,'' Vargeson
said. ``They're the ones who are going to make some money. I can't see that the
public is going to get anything for it.''

Clearwater Land makes its money through land exchanges. It's fees are paid by the

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private parties - such as timber companies - that end up with some of the land.

Government and private sources said the exchange could encompass 2 million acres.
Olson doesn't dispute that figure.

The giant trade has some support. John McCarthy of the Idaho Conservation League
said his group finds promise in parts of the proposal, which it learned about in a
meeting with Clearwater Land last summer. More details will have to be made public
before the Conservation League gives a final blessing.

Still, Clearwater officials ``have pretty good backgrounds,'' McCarthy said. ``They
are looking to make a buck (but) I think they have good motivations.''

Top Forest Service officials in Washington, D.C., aren't familiar with the proposal.
``It raises a lot of significant questions,'' said a top aide to Forest Service Chief Mike
Dombeck.

Idaho BLM officials are likewise uninformed. ``We're definitely on the outside if
something is brewing,'' said Don Smurthwaite of the Boise BLM office.

Erik Ryberg, director of Payette Forest Watch, said the behind-the-scenes nature of
the deal is expected. ``If there was an honest and legitimate exchange of information,
there's a chance there would be an honest and legitimate public debate about this and
they don't want that,'' Ryberg said.

The amount of effort already under way also raises concern.

``Five years and however much money and energy has been invested probably
means there is enough momentum for this to go through,'' said Janine Blaeloch,
executive director of the Western Land Exchange Project in Seattle, ``I think the
deal's going down.''

Blaeloch's group, formed to monitor public land trades, predicts Congress will be
called upon to force the Idaho trade. That's happened several times, most recently
with the Interstate 90 exchange in Western Washington involving Plum Creek timber
company.

One of the most significant criticisms is that appraisals of the land being traded are
not made public until after the swap is completed, Blaeloch said. And when the
appraisals are released, the public often discovers the land that private owners
trading is overvalued, while the public land they are receiving is undervalued,
Blaeloch said.

People who have attended the presentations said Clearwater Land is telling people it
has briefed the Idaho Land Board, Congressional delegation and other state officials.
They also said U.S. Sen. Larry Craig has been asked to introduce legislation early
next year to get the project rolling.

If the trade is accomplished by legislation, instead of each state and federal agency

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making the call, it means a full-blown environmental impact statement doesn't have to
be done. It also removes oversight by the Inspector General at the U.S. Department
of Agriculture - who has been increasingly critical of federal land trades.

Clearwater Land and Craig's office said the senator hasn't been asked to push the
trade through Congress. In fact, Mike Tracy, Craig's press secretary, said he only
learned of the idea Friday. And he likes it.

It sounds like ``something that's going to benefit everybody,'' Tracy said. ``I've heard
the Clearwater Land Exchange has been very successful creating win-win land
exchanges for both the state and private sector.''

Stan Hamilton, director of the Idaho Department of Lands, said his agency is
intrigued.

``We have told them there is a lot of merit to the suggestions that they are making,''
Hamilton said. ``There are also a lot of difficulties with it - bringing together that
many people.''

Hamilton predicted that instead of one huge exchange, the proposal will evolve into a
series of smaller trades.

Dave O'Brien, spokesman for the Idaho Panhandle National Forest, said the
exchange concept ``is hard not to like.'' But many issues must be worked out.
Among other things, the Forest Service no longer believes consolidating ownership is
always best. Sometimes it's more important to keep far-flung parcels when it means
protecting prime wildlife or endangered species habitat, O'Brien said.

Clearwater Land Exchange, meanwhile, said the is three years from reality. Before it
happens, the company is meeting with every interested group, handing them a map
and asking ``what would you like to see in a large land exchange?''

``We aren't out to play God, we are out to assemble a lot of information,'' Olson
said.

The company includes 15 partners and handles land trades in Idaho, Montana,
Wyoming, Washington and Oregon. It has put together terrifically complicated
swaps, including persuading Riley Creek Lumber Co. to trade 520 acres of ancient
cedars at the head of Upper Priest Lake in return for 2,305 acres of Forest Service
land valued at $8.7 million.

The company has been contemplating the mega-trade for three to five years because
smaller trades have become increasingly expensive, Olson said. Such a sweeping
trade would solve ``a myriad of ownership problems'' and be ``directed toward
natural resource needs and public needs,'' he added.

Instead of outright sales, Clearwater Land would obtain acreage federal agencies
want and trade it for Forest Service and BLM land. Then the former federal land
would be traded to private companies or sold.

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Whatever the configuration, ``it has to have benefits for the many,'' Olson said. And it
would include fullblown environmental studies.

He also said the plan will be presented to the public in the next six months. Public
involvement will be so thorough, he said, ``everyone will be tired of it.''

In the end, ``we expect that the mainstream environmental community and
sportsmen's groups will find favor with it,'' Olsen said. For the moment, ``they want
to see the details. And the details aren't ready.''

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