Posted on 02/09/2006 12:35:03 PM PST by george76
With budgets getting tighter every year, the U.S. Forest Service plans to raise up to $800 million in much-needed cash by selling off 200,000 acres of land across the country...
The proposed land sale would be authorized under a Congressional amendment to the 2,000 Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act.
The law is intended to help rural communities that have seen National Forest logging-based revenue drop as timber cutting dwindled across the country.
The list is based in part on land ownership adjustment analyses that designate lands suitable for disposal.
Most of the lands to be sold are parcels completely surrounded by private land or difficult to manage because they are surrounded on three sides by private land...
Newton said the Dillon District is reviewing the three chunks of land to make sure they meet the criteria for sale, but said they had been previously identified for disposal.
Forest Service officials in Washington, D.C. said a detailed list of the parcels would be made available by the end of the week.
None of the parcels are in wilderness or other protected areas...
The national forest system encompasses about 193 million acres nationwide, and the agency doesn't expect a net loss of lands due to other ongoing acquisition programs.
Since 1990, the agency has added about 2 million acres of land...
(Excerpt) Read more at summitdaily.com ...
Sounds good to me. The US land area is 5,984,685 square miles. The national forest lands of the US make up about 5% of the total area. This is a drop in the bucket.
Money used for: Secure Rural School Act, which sends money to rural schools.
Utah received $2 million from the program in 2005, part of $380 million distributed nationally...
National Forests and Bureau of Land Management land.
The two separate proposals are part of an effort to make the agencies operate more efficiently and generate new revenue in tight budget times, agency officials say.
Together, they would generate more than $1 billion over five years.
Southern Nevada has been where most of the land-sale action has taken place, with the BLM selling off chunks of land surrounding the Las Vegas area.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_3486456?source=rss
Sell New England to France.
Not in Utah (or Nevada). The Forest Service is a one of the major land owners, the others being Bureau of Land Management and Utah State Government/Schools.
The fed giveth and the fed takes away....
It's less than a drop in the bucket. It is .001% of the forest land.
As many who live in big cities may not know...
On many counties, the federal government ownes between 90 percent to 99 percent of the land.
It is like living on an island, where you have to get permission from Washington and pay money to Washington to use and/or visit the public land.
The environuts, socialists, and other DUmmies think that it is "government land."
The Feds took in 2 million acres recently...
Now, they will sell 10 percent of the 2,000,000 acres.
Hopefully, some of the money will make it to rural schools.
Quote: "Sell New England to France."
Why bother. The French, seemingly, have already squatted there and now own it by adverse possession.
I covered public land use for Southwest newspapers for about 12 years. "Government land" really gets my goat. If I remember correctly, just 15 percent of Nevada is privately owned.
Re story: "Surrounded on three sides." I made that mistake in my first week, and got laughed at by the whole newsroom.
Been there and had to cater to those nutjobs.
I still own 50 acres that are bounded by NFS. I hope they sell my adjoining parcels, hope they notify me....and I hope I have enough money to buy them.
Back in the 70's, my congressman Wayne Owens (D) somehow managed to purchase several hundred prime lakefront acres. My dad owned the adjoining parcel, and was never notified that it was for sale. Afterward there was a survey that pushed my father's land down under the lake in order for the congressman's new aquisition to be more favorably situated.
Owens' partner in this investment was the State Director of Transportation. My father didn't have the time or money to fight them. He died not long afterwards from his ongoing battle with cancer.....just a side story.
Give em Ted Kennedy as a bonus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When the land comes up for sale, post it here.
We could raise some money for the official Free Republic.
That would be fun and piss off the DUmmies at the same time.
Many people in the big cities do not believe it when we say that public lands are being closed.
When were young, we could hike 30 miles per day. As we get older and slower, we can do 3 miles per day.
Disabled folks may not be able to walk at all. How do they get access to public lands ?
By closing the roads, dirt roads, jeep roads, hiking trails, horse back trails, mountain bike trails, and the "ways"...the DUmmies deny us access.
Many state governments also own land & buildings that are not being used. California could raise millions if it sold off 10% of the unused property.
They can have my two acres. That'll be $800 million dollars, please. :)
Trade Canada for Alberta. Heck, throw in CA too :-)
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