LAT: Forest Service May Sell Some Staff Facilities (raping fed land)

[DeepModem Mom]

Will these people not be satisfied until we have no federal lands untouched, no wilderness left unexploited by their greed?


Forest Service May Sell Some Staff Facilities
The agency proposes to put 20% or more of its buildings on the auction block to raise funds for new construction and deferred maintenance.

By Bettina Boxall, Times Staff Writer

TRUCKEE, Calif. — Wrestling with a long inadequate maintenance budget and facing the prospect of more funding cuts, the U.S. Forest Service is proposing to sell a fifth or more of its staff buildings across the country, including hundreds in California.

A Bush administration plan would allow the Forest Service to go into the real estate business, auctioning staff facilities and the land they sit on to raise cash for upkeep and the construction of new buildings....

***

"I think it would be a very bad thing if we were talking about selling national forest lands, and I would be completely against that," said Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth....Still, some of the properties are in isolated reaches of national forests, and selling them could create pockets of private development, bringing people, pets and noise to wildlife areas....

***

One (administration proposal) would change a congressional spending formula so that billions of dollars from public land auctions in the fast-developing Las Vegas region would go to the U.S. Treasury to offset the federal deficit. Most of the federal money is now used to finance local park projects and to purchase environmentally valuable private holdings in Nevada....(F)unding is plummeting for the main federal program that finances land conservation acquisitions by the Forest Service and other federal agencies.

The administration has proposed $147 million for federal land acquisition in 2006, down from more than $400 million four years ago. The House recently voted to virtually eliminate it in budget legislation that now goes to the Senate....(T)he Forest Service sales could erode what traditionally has been one of the agency's primary means of acquiring recreation parcels and wildlife habitat — its land exchange program....

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-forest31may31,0,4512755.story?coll=la-home-local

[livetohike]

1. Can't you just see some of the uses?

WalMart, Starbucks, McDonalds, etc. Next they will sell naming rights to the National Forests.

I think I am going to be sick now. :-(

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

3. Years ago

I hiked in Kings Canyon in Sequoia Natl Park. I can just imagine it being called "WalMart Hike-o-Rama" *shudder*

[livetohike]

6. Well all those folks hiking the Pacific Crest Trail

will be able to load up on supplies, or get their lattes.

We knew it would be bad for the environment when Bush was selected in 2000 - it will only get worse....

[natrat]

2. words can't describe how horrible these people are

[expatriot]

4. Bush's war on the entire public sector continues.... nt

[expatriot]

5. profits from land sales to offset federal deficit....

"One (administration proposal) would change a congressional spending formula so that billions of dollars from public land auctions in the fast-developing Las Vegas region would go to the U.S. Treasury to offset the federal deficit."

Wow, this fiscal policy is sustainable.

[Democat]

7. Why won't Democrats make issues like this election issues?

When it comes to the environment, the Democratic Party seems pretty silent lately.

Why?

[DeepModem Mom]

8. I agree completely -- I don't think people want our land...

lost forever, and our environment endangered even further than it is now. And I think the public is unaware of what is happening -- it's, for the most part, under the radar. It's not a big story on CNN, or even a headline in most papers.