Here we go again !

[skeeter]

From the Stone County Gazette:

Deja Vu: Forest lands listed for sale in Stone County

By Sam Clanton

The cat came back the very next day. But for Stone County and many other places across the U.S., it’s not a cat and it wasn’t the next day. It’s the sale of our national forest land, proposed exactly one year ago but eventually dropped. This time around, however, there is not a formal public comment period, a concession hundreds of Stone County residents took advantage of last year. The U.S. Forest Service website, www.fs.fed.us, reveals that 2,236.91 acres of Mark Twain National Forest in Stone County will be sold to raise funds to extend the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act of 2000 in the proposed Fiscal Year 2008 federal budget. Once again, Stone County ranks number one in the entire state in acres for sale. Once again, people are upset and a fight is brewing. Also ranking high on the list of acreage for sale is neighboring Barry and Christian counties. Taney County meanwhile stands to loose only about 150 acres.

Another difference this year is that the sale, packaged as the National Forest Land Adjustment for Rural Communities Act, directs that 50 percent of land sale receipts would remain within the state they were collected. What does our local state representative think about this? “I am totally and completely opposed to the sale of forest lands in Stone and Taney counties, and the rest of Missouri,” stated Rep. Dennis Wood, of Kimberling City. “We need to reserve those areas for future generations. If the lands must be sold, the first opportunity should be extended to state, county and city governments, but I think this is dead wrong, and I’m going to do all I can to stop it.” Wood stated it was wrong not to include a public comment period in the land sale. “We need to give the federal government an answer (to this funding problem) instead of just a protest,” Wood also commented. “I will be terribly disappointed if we have to do this. The sale of forest lands would provide one-time money, and what is needed is a continuous funding source.”

Hwy-13.com (Sam Clanton) attempted to contact, and presented questions in writing to State Senator Jack Goodman, Missouri Senators Kit Bond and Claire McCaskill and Congressman Roy Blunt. As of press time, Blunt responded with the following statements. “The offshore drilling revenues proposed in HR4761 passed the House but didn’t pass the Senate, so that source of funding doesn’t exist,” said Dan Waddlington, a spokesperson for Blunt. Last year Blunt announced the land sale would not be necessary as offshore drilling revenues would be able to fund the Rural Schools act. “The (forest lands sale) was resurrected by the administration as one of several options to fund the Rural Schools act,” Waddlington stated. He said another option was an across-the-board cut in federal spending. Congress must authorize the Forest Service to go ahead with the land sale, Waddlington pointed out. “The congressman (Blunt) believes it (the Rural Schools act) can be funded without selling the forest lands,” Waddlington said. If the land sale doesn’t go through it won’t be because the Forest Service is not prepared for it. Perusal of their website makes it very clear how many acres are drawn up for sale. The site’s interactive map viewer doesn’t seem to be functioning properly, however, so pinpointing specific parcels is difficult. Missouri isn’t the only state with forest land up for grabs. Neighboring Arkansas is also greatly affected, particularly the Ouachita National Forest in west-central Arkansas, where many thousands of acres are affected.

Mar-08-07 | Stone County Gazette

If you want to protect watersheds, this has to be stopped cold. Only problem is the article doesn't give the origin of this " Act ". Don't know if it's coming from U. S. Senate or House or direct from National Forest Service or what. If anyone has any further information please chime in but this rates a big red flag for action ( AGAIN ). Sneaky so and so's ! No way we should be funding schools by selling off public forest land. Once it's gone, it's gone for good.