Forest Service extends comment period for land sale proposal

[Robb]

Forest Service extends comment period for land sale proposal

The U.S. Forest Service today announced it was giving the public another 30 days to comment on the proposal to sell up to 300,000 acres of public land.

“There is a great deal of interest in this proposal and we want to ensure that the public has ample opportunity to provide its input,” Mark Rey, U.S. Department of Agriculture Under Secretary, said in a news release. “As we indicated from the beginning, this is a transparent process to encourage the public to provide specific information on the list of Forest Service parcels proposed for sale.”

More than 6,600 acres of land in the Pisgah and Nantahala national forests could be sold as part of the Bush administration proposal.

The comment period has been extended to May 1.

----

Federal land sales comment period extended

Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey said today that most of the 4,000 comments on selling off 300,000 acres of Forest Service land were negative, but the comment period will be extended to the end of April.

"We acknowledge that the vast majority are expressing opposition," said Rey. "That is not a surprise. We understand that selling public lands is a sensitive issue."

(snip)

Rey said he considered other ways to raise funds, but selling off federal land was the best alternative. He said no one has identified a better alternative.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

1. "We understand that selling public lands is a sensitive issue . . ."

" . . . but we really don't give a flying fuck."

:nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke:

[glitch]

14. "selling" nice euphemism for "giving to bush cronies" or "paying bush

cronies to take this nuisance resource off our hands"

[fooj]

2. Damn right it's a sensitive issue.

Stay the fuck away from our National Forests you greedy, filthy little rat bastards!

:grr: :grr: :grr:

[Trish1168]

3. They want input, here's my input...

Fuck you Forrest service (and dept of Agriculture).

Those lands belong to everyone. They are a national treasure.

Greedy pricks.

[Robb]

15. Better still:

Comments may be sent by e-mail to [e-mail].

Written comments may be sent to:
USDA Forest Service, SRS Comments, Lands 4S, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Mailstop 1124, Washington, DC, 20250-0003.

Send faxed comments to [phone]. :patriot:

[pinto]

4. PDF Maps of USFS Parcels Potentially Eligible for Sale

from the US Forest Service web site

http://www.fs.fed.us/land/staff/rural-pdf.shtml

The following is an updated list of the links to PDF maps of the individual forests with lands potentially eligible for conveyance. If you are a recent visitor to this page, you may have noticed that some of the links to the PDFs are missing. The maps are being corrected and will be posted as they become available.

Northern Region

Beaverhead National Forest
Bitterroot National Forest
Clearwater National Forest
Coeur d'Alene National Forest
Custer National Forest
Deerlodge National Forest
Flathead National Forest
Gallatin National Forest
Helena National Forest
Kaniksu National Forest
Kootenai National Forest
Lewis and Clark National Forest
Lolo National Forest
Nez Perce National Forest
St. Joe National Forest

Eastern Region

Mark Twain National Forest
Monongahela National Forest

Southern Region

Angelina National Forest
Bankhead National Forest
Bienville National Forest
Caddo-LBJ Grasslands National Forest
Chattahoochee National Forest
Cherokee National Forest
Conecuh National Forest
Croatan National Forest
Daniel Boone National Forest
Davy Crockett National Forest
Desoto National Forest
Francis Marion National Forest
George Washington and Jefferson National Forest
Holly Springs National Forest
Homochitto National Forest
Kisatchie National Forest
Nantahala National Forest
Ocala National Forest
Oconee National Forest
Ouachita National Forest
Ozark-St. Francis National Forest
Pisgah National Forest
Sabine National Forest
Sam Houston National Forest
Sumter National Forest
Talladega National Forest
Tombigbee National Forest
Uwharrie National Forest

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*Note: You will need Adobe Reader (available free of charge from the Adobe website) to open the PDF files linked to this webpage.

[Maddy McCall]

6. Pinto, this makes me want to cry.

I can't even look at the whole list. It just sickens me.

Thanks for the link. I'm going to write a letter to the editor of my local paper, and I'll use that info.

:cry:

[pinto]

11. It is sad. And they're going to sell Nat'l Forest land to pay for what?

Their deficit, their tax cuts, their war contracts, etc. It's a national shame.

[Maddy McCall]

5. The purpose of setting aside public lands is for public use....

National Parks are public, so that people who live in cities can experience the rugged outdoors, which they wouldn't be able to do if the land sells to private developers.

What the public needs to know is that this is YET ANOTHER INSTANCE OF BUSH SCREWING WORKING-CLASS PEOPLE! Tax dollars were used to preseve (and in some instances, develop, through the additions of lakes, cabins, etc) public lands, and now those lands are going on the auction block to the highest bidder.

Hey, John Q Public, remember when you used to take Junior trail-riding and fishing in that south Mississippi forest? Well, those days are soon over.

Hey, Jane Q Public, remember that summer when you and five of your gal pals got together for a camping expedition in southwest Georgia? Savor that trip, because that land is soon to be off limits to you and your ilk.

Why Democrats aren't publicizing this and openly opposing it--from the angle I present above--is just beyond my comprehension. Bush and his cronies have given Democrats a wonderful platform issue--saving public lands for public use--but it just went over their heads.

Democratic and progressive organizations should be running television, radio, and newsprint spots on this, informing the public that the land they are entitled to use is about to become off-limits to them. No more hunting for that big buck in the Homochitto Forest. No more camping with the tykes in the Appalachians.

Then, maybe John and Jane Q Public would give a damn about this very tangible way in which they are being further ripped off by the Bush Administration.

Selling public lands--along with refusing to fund higher education, health care, and other social programs used by us working folks--is just another method that the Bush team has used to put us middling folks in our place.

Want to carry the south, Democratic presidential candidate 2008? Tell hunters that the lands that they've been hunting for the past 100 years will be off-limits to them soon. Tell them that their tax dollars have maintained land for 100 years that will soon be sold to whomever has the dollars (and not neccessarily American bidders). Bush and Cheney will always have some rich benefactor to invite them to hunt somewhere. Where will YOU hunt and fish when your favorite game habitat is closed to you?

AAaargh...forgive my emotional essay on this. I just can't believe that Bush has the audacity to FURTHER screw working-class Americans. You know, if I had fucked up as many times as he has, and if my approval numbers were in the toilet, I might try to find ways to endear the public to me, perhaps by building more cabins at public lakes, or by developing kid-friendly programs at national parks. But this guy? No. He's going to privatize and incorporate as much of publicly owned America as he can before he skulks off to whatever corner of the world he chooses to live out his wealthy life.

It's up to us--and our elected and very vocal representatives--to inform the public in a manner that the public can understand. What are we waiting for?

As an archaeologist, another thing that bothers me is that many of our national forests are archaeologically rich. We knew that remains and artifacts were protected in situ, because exploitation was inhibited by a lengthy permit process to do work on public lands, and because any work done had to be overseen by an archaeologist to make certain that sites weren't disturbed. In private ownership, though, those sites can be exploited with backhoes, if the land owner wishes, and those archaeological items can be sold on the private market instead of released to the ancestral tribe or a museum.

God I'm just disgusted. What are we Democrats waiting for? Why aren't we raising seven kinds of hell about this???

[CrazyOrangeCat]

7. Actually, my little brother is.

(raising seven kinds of hell about this.)

I'm really proud of him. He's a great writer and, and he fires a salvo at one representative or newspaper every night. Snail-mail, to boot. He's got Brownback so pissed that the guy's gonna have an aneurysm!

Gonna start calling the boy Hayduke . . .

[Maddy McCall]

8. That's MY kinda guy!

Give him kudos from ol' Maddy McCall. :yourock:

[CrazyOrangeCat]

9. With pleasure, ma'am.

and, kindest regards to the scary frog . . .

[Maddy McCall]

10. LOL. Thanks.

:hi:

[MsMagnificent]

12. *kick* & Recommended

[nicknameless]

13. K&R

[clyrc]

16. This is too disgusting

I find myself asking, once again, How can they do this? I simply don't understand.

[slay]

17. How about NOT FUCKING GOING TO WAR WITH IRAQ? Would that save $$$?

Sheesh. The rich keep getting richer while all the rest of us keep getting SCREWED! :(

[texpatriot2004]

18. Thank you very much for your post. Save the forests, provide

comments please.

[CornField]

19. They should extend comments until Jan. 2009

If that's impossible, then I suggest they trim what they need from the war budget.

[Kenergy]

20. Disgusting

If Rey can't find an alternative funding method, then perhaps he should be fired and replaced with
someone who CAN find an alternative.

[intheflow]

21. Emailed my opinion off.

Kicked and recommended this thread, too. :kick:

[dusty64]

22. Sadly this will make no difference.

I remember right after the coup they had a redo of the comments on Clinton's roadless forest plan even after overwhelmingly positive reaction. The People still wanted it and they just ignore it and do whatever they and their corporate owners want.