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Administration plan to sell USFS land is short-sighted, wrong
Just when we think the current administration can’t get any more arrogant and short-sighted, we learn of a plan so outrageous it’s barely believable.
We’re talking about the Bush White House’s recent budget proposal that would fund rural schools through the sale of federal property. Selling off land that belongs to all the people to replace money lost due to Bush’s ongoing tax cuts to the rich and justifying the plan by saying the money will help poor schools seems to demonstrate new heights of hypocrisy and irresponsibility.
For starters, land is an investment that constantly appreciates and will always have a higher future value. That’s especially true here in Western North Carolina, where we see prices skyrocketing. If this administration thinks it can sell National Forest land now, will it float selling the national parks when it has a budget shortfall next year?
Schools need a consistent source of funding, not a short term solution that is really only a drop in the bucket. While the $800 million in revenue that could be generated by selling off some 300,000 acres may sound like a lot of money, Jackson County’s share – around $60,000 per year – represents less than 1 percent of the school system’s proposed $37 million annual budget.
Just because the land is idle doesn’t mean it’s not working for all of us – especially those of us without the means to set foot in the private communities that now occupy thousands of acres local citizens once were able to access. The rest of us still need areas where we can hunt, fish and hike.
Forest Service officials have said they’re considering sales of isolated tracts that are hard to manage. In taking that view, they are overlooking the fact that scattered tracts are all the more valuable as wildlife habitat in an area where development is rampant.
Using the needs of children as a reason to sell off treasured public lands is just plain wrong. We need natural areas just as much as we need education, and we shouldn’t be forced to give up our public open spaces and forest land that protect our mountaintops and water quality to fund education.
We haven’t heard the last of this one. It’s already become a political issue in the 11th District Congressional race. Challenger Heath Shuler has spoken against the idea of selling public land, while incumbent Charles Taylor has taken a wait-and-see attitude, saying it’s only a proposal right now and he’ll decide once the matter comes before Congress.
Our minds are made up. Our public lands were set aside to make sure that Americans everywhere had access to natural areas. Such treasures should not be sacrificed to fund this administration’s shortfall.
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