Being the nature lover I am, this is just very upsetting to me! This land is NATIONAL FOREST LAND that is supposed to be protected from development. I think NC citizens are going to be really pi**ed about this. I found out about this last night for the first time while visiting friends in Cherokee, NC. I think these a**holes are going to try to make room for more housing developments.
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs. ... 20327/1001

For sale: National forest land
Bush administration proposes selling tracts in N.C., 33 other states
by Doug Abrahms, STAFF WRITER
published February 12, 2006 6:00 am
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration said Friday it wants to sell thousands of acres of federal forest land to aid rural schools, but critics say the plan is an unprecedented auction of public lands.

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The Forest Service is considering selling 300,000 acres of land in North Carolina and 33 other states, although the final amount will run about 175,000 acres, said Mark Rey, Agriculture Department undersecretary.

The agency expects to raise $800 million over five years with the sale.

"The parcels ... are isolated, expensive to manage and no longer meeting national Forest Service needs," he said. "We'll revise the list one more time before transmitting it to Congress."

In North Carolina, the Forest Service proposed selling 9,828 acres. That breaks down to 3,835 acres in the Nantahala National Forest; 2,780 acres in the Pisgah National Forest; 2,317 in the Uwharrie National Forest; and 895 acres in the Croatan National Forest, the Southern Environmental Law Center in Chapel Hill said. Land parcels range in size from less than an acre to 561 acres.

North Carolina's four national forests cover 1.25 million acres.

Terry Seyden, spokesman for North Carolina's national forests, could not be reached for comment Friday.

Christopher Joyell, campaign coordinator for the Asheville-based Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project, said he had few details about the proposal. But he said it seemed to be another step in the Bush administration's effort to move public lands into private hands.

"We've just seen a trend of commercialization of public lands," he said.

Conservationists and some Democratic lawmakers called the sale unprecedented and said the federal government was auctioning off public lands to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy.

Nationally, many of the tracts are in Tahoe, Sequoia, Bridger-Teton and other well-known national forests.

"In my view, selling public lands to pay down the deficit would be a short-sighted, ill-advised and irresponsible shift in federal land management policy," said Sen. Jeff Bingaman, the top Democrat on the Senate's Energy and Natural Resources Committee. "Our public lands are a legacy for future generations. We shouldn't liquidate that legacy."

The Forest Service plans on reviewing the plan for 30 days before sending it to Congress, which could approve, modify or reject it.

The proceeds from the land sales would fund a federal program that provides money to rural counties for schools and roads. Previously, that money came from the general treasury and timber sales, which have fallen off in recent years.

The majority of payments go to Oregon, Washington state and California although communities and counties in 34 states receive some money.

Joyell said his environmental organization believes a balance can be struck to aid rural areas.

"Public lands provide a valuable reservoir of biodiversity. We consider people to be part of that biodiversity," he said.

Rey said many of the tracts lie outside federal forest boundaries and in some cases are surrounded by private land owners. The agency put information on its Web site about the tracts to be auctioned off to make it an open process, he said.

He also noted the Forest Service purchases at least 100,000 acres a year from conservation funds and that will offset the agency's land sales in two years.

The Bureau of Land Management has sold land around Las Vegas and used the money to buy other environmentally sensitive properties in Nevada, said Nicole Anzia of the Wilderness Society, a conservation group. And last year the Forest Service sold off a small amount of land, she said.

"But this sale of forest service land is unprecedented," she said. "I just don't think the American public will go along."

Staff writer Ellyn Ferguson contributed to this report.