Federal Legislators and the Take Away of Public Lands in Four Idaho Counties: Deafening Silence  

By Harvey Neese

Many of us have asked and been asked many times  the past several years, what are Idaho’s federal legislators Senators Rische and Crapo and Representative Minnick, doing for the huge majority of the people who oppose the take away of public lands in four counties in what is called the Upper Lochsa Land Exchange Proposal? Those of us who have met with the legislative aides are greeted cordially and are friendly but they never have anything to report about what the federal representatives of the people are doing for their constituents on this very important subject. Two of these legislators who are up for re-election this November must feel it is not important to communicate with those who will decide whether they should be reinstated in their current elected positions. The people who are closely involved in this ill-advised land take away are all puzzled at this silence and nobody can understand why.

The proposed land take away involves a government agency, the U.S. Forest Service, giving one local Forest Service official the authority to decide whether public lands, used by over 100,000 people, should move ahead to be taken away ! You say this can’t happen? It is happening before our very eyes and the people’s elected federal representatives remain silent showing no reactions or public support for the huge majority of the people that oppose it.

There are a majority of state and local elected officials who oppose the exchange in four counties. State Representative Tom Trail is a leader in the opposition of the take away of public lands from his constituents. Representative Trail recently set up a meeting of elected local officials and those on the frontline in opposing the land takeaway and conveyed this message to the Forest Service official who has sole authority to continue the process of taking these lands away forever!

I might relate what my previous experience has been with a senator from Idaho when a situation arose that I thought required legislative assistance. I was involved in assisting Third World countries in improving their food systems. I thought we had one of the best programs with the least cost in assisting the poor to improve their food systems. A Washington bureaucrat decided one day to eliminate the program without any discussion on its merits. I met with the senator from Idaho in Washington, DC to ask for his assistance. He listened intently in the hallway of the congressional building between legislative bills. After hearing my story, he asked me this question, “What do you want me to do?” I hesitated for a bit not knowing quite what to say in my first encounter with a senator. He then asked, “Shall I call up the Administrator of the Agency for International Development (AID directs America’s foreign assistance program) and tell him I don’t want this program to be cut?” Surprised at his response, I told him “yes, please do”. Within three days our program was reinstated in helping the poorest of the poor. I wonder what would happen if the three Idaho federal legislators would make a similar call to the head of the U.S. Forest Service and inform him they do not want these lands to be taken away from their constituents that will economically devastate small communities throughout the area? Representatives of the people, we urge you to say and do something to show you support the wishes of the majority of your constituents as this is how our political system is supposed to work in America by the Founding Fathers!