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Officials say ‘no’ to USFS land sales
By Derek Hodges
County officials Monday (April 17) unanimously approved a resolution opposing the sale of local U.S. Forest Service land.
The resolution, which is similar to one passed March 6 by Macon County commissioners, specifically opposes the proposed sale of 137 acres in Jackson County. The proposal was sent to Congress by President Bush as a means of funding a rural schools initiative.
Commissioners’ Chairman Brian McMahan said he is not opposed to the federal program that provided $60,000 to Jackson County Schools last year. Rather, county leaders’ concern stems from the short-sighted proposal to sell public land to fund it, he said.
During the meeting McMahan expressed concern over public perception that board members’ lack of action during their last meeting was a sign they supported the sale.
“This board’s policy has always been that at our first meeting of the month we receive items,” McMahan said. “We always take action at the second meeting (of each month) unless the matter is time-sensitive. That is why I recommended that we follow our procedures.”
Allowing for a couple weeks between learning about an issue and voting on it gives board members time to really consider the matter, he said.
Delos Monteith, president of the local chapter of Trout Unlimited, requested commissioners approve such a resolution in comments during county leaders’ March 20 meeting. While commissioners voted on several issues they received during their April 3 session, the Forest Service resolution was carried over because, at the time, it was not considered urgent, McMahan said.
At the time, county leaders believed the public comment period on the sale proposal was closed, so the vote would have been “a formality,” McMahan said. However, Forest Service officials extended the comment period until the end of this month, a fact that county officials found out about between the April 3 and 17 meetings, he said.
“This is an issue this board has been concerned about,” McMahan said.
While McMahan made no specific accusations about what he felt shaped the public’s perception of the issue, Commissioner Joe Cowan suggested an April 6 Sylva Herald article is to blame.
“I too read the article in the local paper which appeared to me to have been deliberately written in such a way as to give a negative focus on our position regarding forest land and, for the record, I resent that kind of journalism,” Cowan said.
The Herald’s April 6 report is available online at www.thesylvaherald.com.
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