WLP News No 9

8/7/2019 WLP News No 9

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Land ExchangeUpdate

Western Land Exchange ProjecSeattle, Washington

Autumn 2002 Research, Advocacy, & Outreach for Land Exchange Policy Reform Vo

Call us cynics, but when the Salt Lake City news-

papers began reporting last year that Utah Gov-ernor Mike Leavitt planned to propose a newnational monument in his state, we knew therehad to be a land trade hidden in there some-

where. After all, in 1998 and 2000, Utah’s apoplecticanger over the Grand Staircase Escalante NationalMonument was assuaged through two horribly lop-sided land trades between the State and the feds.Despite these deals having been touted as “win-wins,”it is tacitly understood that the state took federal tax-payers to the cleaners in both the Utah Schools andUtah West Desert land exchanges.

Leavitt had led the outcry against the Grand Stair-case-Escalante designation, but now wanted thepresident to establish a monument in the San RafaelSwell area due west of Moab. Most speculated that his purpose was to forestall wilderness designation inthe Swell in favor of allowing more intense usesbut at least equally attractive would be the prospect of cashing in on another lucrative land swap, tradingout state-owned checkerboard lands in the Swell forfederal lands elsewhere with higher development andextraction potential.

In early summer 2002, members of the Utah con-gressional delegation introduced a bill to ratify theFederal-Utah State Trust Lands Consolidation Agree-ment, with 113,000 acres to be traded to the feds and135,000 to Utah’s School & Institutional Trust LandsAdministration (SITLA). HR 4968 stated that theexchange would be one of equal value, and that noendangered species habitat, cultural resource sites, orother sensitive lands would be traded out of federalownership.

Appraisers within the Utah BLM ofce had already

warned us that this deal was going to be a far biggerrip-off even than the two previous exchangesandthey had the numbers to prove it. The agency appraisers had been asked to come up with preliminary valueestimates for the state and federal lands, but whenSITLA and Interior began negotiating the exchange,appraisers were banished. Beginning in June, BLMinsiders leaked to the Western Land Exchange Proj-ect a steady stream of evidence that the land andmineral values had been manipulated to make theunequal trade look fair. Interior department nego-tiators testied to Congress that the properties were

worth about $35 million on each side.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)who represent Utah BLM Senior Appraiserand heroic whistleblower Kent Wilkinsonjoined usin analyzing and publicizing the documents behindthe deal (see next page).

What the paperwork showed was this: not only hadthe negotiators inated the value of lands the statewanted to trade out of the San Rafael Swell by severalmillion dollars and lowballed federal land valuesbut they had completely disregarded the value of known oil, gas, and coal on much of the public land.According to appraisal and minerals staff at the BLM,the deal would dunk U.S. taxpayers for $100 mil-lion. Yet another claim in the billthat endangeredspecies habitat and sensitive federal lands would not be tradedwas put to the lie when WLXP receivedmemos compiled in the Vernal, Utah BLM ofceexpressing concern over wildlife and endangered spe-cies habitat, riparian areas, and paleontological andcultural resources that would be relinquished to theState in the trade.

Swell deal is a $100 million rip-off



By the time the bill came to its hearing inthe House in mid-September, the scamhad hit the Salt Lake City papers repeat-edly and the front page of the Washington

Post. Despite a few grumblings from Demo-crats, Utah Rep. Jim Hansen, chair of theResources Committee, put the bill on theroster to be brought to the oor under asuspension of the rules, which waives therequirement for individual votes and forthe presence of a quorum. This methodof passing billsnominally reserved for“non-controversial” legislationcan beaccomplished with the presence of only twomembers (a two-thirds majority is requiredfor passage) and no recorded votes.

WLXP worked with PEER, Taxpayers forCommon Sense, and Southern Utah Wil-derness Alliance to try to ensure the billwould be taken out of suspension, and got a commitment from Rep. George Miller(D-CA) to block it. The plan was that whenthe bill came up Miller would call for a voteand recommend opposition. A long-timecritic of federal land exchanges, Miller evensent a “Dear Colleague” letter to fellowHouse members, urging them to oppose

this “shady deal.”

On the afternoon of October 1, a meresmattering of members were on the Houseoor, attending to the serious business of the nation. Members spent 30 to 45 min-

utes each on the following resolutions:

• praising the perfect collegiate wrestlingrecord of one Cael Sanderson;

• paying tribute to football great Johnny Unitas;

• recognizing the importance of teachingU.S. history in elementary and second-ary school;

• expressing the sense of the Congress withrespect to the disease endometriosis.

Late in the afternoon, Rep. Hansen of Utahwas recognized, proposed a suspension of the rules to pass the Utah land exchangebill, was presented with no opposition…and in 93 seconds , got the bill passed.George Miller was not on the oor, andlater fumed that Hansen had “snookered”him by bringing the bill up earlier thanscheduled.

The 107th Congress adjourned without Senate consideration of the Utah swap. But House sponsor Chris Cannon is unlikely tolet this bill go away, and WLXP expects toconfront and put an end to this horribledeal next year.

continued from page 1

The ReadingRoom of

our website,www.westlx.org,features project

news, presscoverage, andaccess to our

newsletters andpublications.

As the controversy over the San Rafael Swell land exchangewas building, Public Employees for Environmental Respon-

sibility (PEER) submitted a whistleblower complaint to theOfce of Special Counsel (OSC) on behalf of BLM appraiserKent Wilkinson, outlining manipulative and deceptivepractices used by BLM/Interior and alleging gross misman-agement and waste of funds in the exchange proposal. At theend of September, the OSC issued a nding that there was a“substantial likelihood” Wilkinson’s allegations were true, andthe agency forwarded the complaint to Interior Secretary GailNorton for formal investigation. Ofcially, Norton has untillate November to respond.

The smile of a clear conscienceAppraiser Kent Wilkinson has put his career and personal comfort in jeopardy by blowing the whistle on the San Rafael land swap and the corrupt Interior Department. Photo: WLXP

Land Exchange Update 2



Once again, the BLM has been ayedfor improprieties and dysfunction in itsappraisal organization, and this time the

Department of Justice has been urged tolook into the matter.

Because the laws governing land tradesrequire that the transactions yield equal valueto both parties in an exchange, appraisalsare a crucial part of the process. Both theBLM and the Forest Service have been repri-manded for incompetence and malfeasancein land valuations for exchanges. In the wakeof numerous government reports criticiz-ing the BLM land exchange program (therewere 5 such audits between 1996 and 2001),auditors recommended that the BLM hirethe Appraisal Foundation to conduct a peer

review of the agency’s appraisal organiza-tion, policies, and procedures. The Founda-tion, created by Congress after the Savings &

Loan scandals, is a quasi-governmental entity charged with promulgating and overseeingappraisal standards.

The Foundation conducted its investigationbetween March and August 2002, covering 7of the BLM’s 11 western state ofces. Whilepast investigations have pointed to graveproblems, this report pulls no punches,asserting in plain language that there hasbeen a near-total breakdown in the BLM’sappraisal function, as well as possible crimi-nal behavior.

Not surprisingly, the reviewers found theexchange program to be highly politicized:appraisers work under realty managers who,in many cases, only care about getting landdeals through as quickly as possible, so stick-lers for proper procedure and equal valueare considered to be obstructionists. “TheBLM appears rife with internal dissatisfac-tion, confusion, controversy, and outsidepolitical pressures,” the report states.

At the center of the problem has beenDave Cavanaugh, who has been the seniorappraiser in the BLM’s national ofce sincethe 1980s. Cavanaugh has promoted an“alternative” approach to land valuationwithin the BLM, essentially negotiating landvalues with private parties rather than rely-ing on appraisals. Cavanaugh’s misbehaviorwas the focus of at least three of the auditsconducted on the BLM exchange programby the Interior Inspector General.

Last year, WLXP and Public Employees forEnvironmental Responsibility (PEER) calledfor Cavanaugh’s resignation, but the BLMclosed ranks around him. The Foundation’sreport says that only those ofces that wereable to avoid Cavanaugh’s inuence wereproducing credible appraisals. Now, therelease of the AF report has increased theheat in the D.C. ofce and both Cavanaughand Realty & Lands Manager Ray Brady arebeing moved out of the agency.

Experts denounce BLM appraisal practices

Land Exchange UpdateTheLand Exchange Update is published by the Western Land Exchange Project, a non-prot charitable organization conductingresearch, outreach, and advocacy for thereform of federal land exchange policy.

Western Land Exchange Project P.O. Box 95545Seattle, WA 98145-2545phone 206.325.3503fax 206.325.3515www.westlx.org

Board of DirectorsRebecca Rundquist, President, Seattle, WA Dr. Charles Pezeshki, Secretary, Moscow, IDMarianne Dugan, Eugene, OR Sandy Lonsdale, Bend, OR

Staff Janine Blaeloch, Director,[email protected]

Christopher Krupp, Staff Attorney,[email protected]

Linda Campbell, Program Coordinator,[email protected]

Newsletter Design/ProductionSheila Hoffmanwww.NewslettersAndMore.net

The BLMappears rife

with internaldissatisfaction,confusion,controversy, andoutside politicalpressures.

AppraisaFoundation

Land Exchange Update 3 Autumn



Memory loss spurs Nevadadevelopment In 1988, an explosion destroyed thePEPCON rocket-fuel plant in Henderson,

Nevada, just southeast of Las Vegas. Thedisaster killed two and injured hundreds,shook up the town, andas always seemsto happen in Nevadaset the scene for theprivatization of more federal land.

PEPCON moved out of the state, but Kerr-McGee was manufacturing the rocket fuelcomponent ammonium perchlorate at itsown Henderson plant, and it was decidedthat this and other dangerous facilitiesmust be moved outside the Las Vegas

Valley.In 1989, Nevada Senator Harry Reidintroduced a bill to allow the sale to ClarkCounty of 3,700 acres of federal landoutside the Valley for the development of a new Kerr-McGee rocket-fuel fac-tory at Apex, about 10 miles northeast of Las Vegas. Although the Bureau of LandManagement had identied the area forretention in federal ownership, Public Law101-67 would also release for potential

sale about 21,000 additional acres in thearea for later industrial development. TheCounty would be obligated to pay to theU.S. a portion of any prots it receivedfrom its developments at what becameknown as the Apex Industrial Park.

Since the PEPCON disaster had halved theproduction of ammonium perchlorate,“vital to the nation’s space program anddefense readiness,” Reid presented the billas one that would serve a critical nationalneed “which outweighs other existing and

potential public uses of the lands.” Reidalso pointed out the site’s proximity toNellis Air Force Base, from which many aircraft leave carrying live ordnance. Obvi-ously, Reid suggested, the area would neverhave the potential for residential develop-ment.

Accordingly, when Clark County beganthe process of selling the Apex lands, it

The Foundation found problems in theBLM to be so serious as to call for (1) a mor-atorium on all exchanges pending furtherinvestigation and reform, (2) a Department of Justice investigation into violations of lawoccurring in BLM land deals, and (3) forma-

tion of a separate appraisal entity to overseeall Department of Interior land valuationsand exchanges.

So far, a resounding silence has emanatedfrom the national ofce of the BLM, and it is not clear what the agency proposes to do.However, the BLM’s habit of deance anddenial will probably not work this time, as it must respond substantively to the InspectorGeneral, who recommended the Founda-tion’s review in the rst place.

The entire Appraisal Foundation report canbe retrieved from the Project News page of our website.

BLM, take noteThe Forest Service, too, hired the AppraisalFoundation to evaluate its appraisal system.A March 2000 report by the Foundationconcluded that the agency’s procedures andimplementation were “generally sound,” but made several recommendations, including

re-structuring lines of authority to better pro-tect appraisers from political interference by managers.

The Forest Service has proposed revisions toits land exchange and appraisal manuals tomeet the Foundation’s recommendations.The revisions would also address several issuesWLXP has been pushing, including moretimely and complete disclosure of appraisals,better public notication of land exchangeproposals, and narrower criteria for Categori-

cal Exclusions from NEPA. Changes shouldbe fully incorporated by February 2003.

The Forest Service also plans to retain itsNational Landownership Adjustment Team,an oversight body that reviews the feasibility of land exchange proposals and compliancewith statutes and regulations. WLXP hasfound that the team’s oversight has signi-cantly increased accountability in the landtrade program and provides an authority wecan go to when local ofces go astray.




established development restrictions that included a prohibition on the development of population-dense uses such as prisons,casinos, hotels, and residential develop-ment.

Clark County decided not to develop thesite itself, but to sell the land to third par-ties. In 1997, the BLM Solicitor issued anopinion that third parties would not beliable for sharing their prots with the fed-

eral government, as the County had beenunder the provisions of the bill. The doorwas wide open for developers to market the site and prot from the eventual sale toheavy industries.

Kerr McGee built a storage building at theApex site, but never developed the rocket fuel factory there. A few other develop-ments moved into the sitea regionallandll, among others. But the overallpace of development at the site has been“disappointing,” and Industrial PropertiesDevelopment (IPD), which now owns about 10,000 acres around Apex, has decided todo something about it.

The company has applied to Clark County for a Master Development Permit that would allow them to build 28,000 homes onpart of the site, right in the ight path of weapons-ready Nellis aircraft, and just overa hill from the industrial site itself.

In addition to outing the very specicpurpose for which the land was privatizedand turning a blind eye to public safety,development at the site would hand IPD ahuge windfall in land value. The land IPDpurchased was appraised, on the basis of low-density industrial zoning, at an average

of $962 per acre. Residential zoning wouldbring a huge increase in the value of thelandat least somewhat closer to the morethan $100,000 per acre land is fetching inthe Las Vegas Valley. Based on the 1997Solicitor’s opinion, the developers wouldnot have to share the prots with federaltaxpayers who relinquished the land in therst place.

Clark County planners have recommendedthat the Planning Commission reject IPD’s

application for rezoning. WLXP has sub-mitted testimony to the County in oppo-sition to the project, citing a betrayal of the public trust. But memory is short, par-ticularly in Las Vegas, where most peoplejust moved in yesterday. A hearing on therezoning application is set for December.

Aerojet cashes inThe Apex project isn’t the rst case of convenient amnesia around a “publicinterest” Nevada land deal.

In 1988, Nevada Senator Chic Hecht got

a bill through Congress that allowed theexchange of almost 29,000 acres of BLMland north of Las Vegas for 4,650 acres of land in the Everglades to be transferredto the Fish & Wildlife Service. The privateparty to the deal, Aerojet Corporation,would build a rocket manufacturing andtesting facility on once-public lands in theCoyote Spring Valley for the furtheranceof of “national security, national defense,and jobs for Nevada.”

The bill also authorized a 99-year leaseto Aerojet of an additional 14,000 acres,for which the company would not berequired to pay anything. In land andcash, Aerojet paid the government a totalof about $2.6 million.

In 1996, Aerojet abandoned its plans fordevelopment of the land and sold the29,000 acres to Harrich Investments for$15 million. Coyote Springs Investment (CSI) bought the land and water rightsfor $25 million, then sold just half the water rights for the same price to the SouthernNevada Water Authority.

CSI hopes to acquire the 14,000 acres of “leased” land through a land exchangewith the BLM, andon the hoped-fortotal of 43,000 acresbuild 50,000 homesand 10 golf courses. One golf course hasalready been approved by Clark County,and the exchange for the leased land is inthe works.






WLXP nds developer setting up shop in Nevada BLM ofceThrough a series of Freedom of Informa-tion Act (FOIA) requests, WLXP learnedthat the Nevada Land and Resource Com-pany (NLRC), Nevada’s largest privatelandowner and a proponent of numerousland exchanges, has had two employeesworking out of the BLM’s Carson City FieldOfce.

NLRC and the BLM signed a Memoran-dum of Understanding that called forNLRC to provide a realty specialist and anarcheologist to the Carson City Field Ofcein order to “expedite” land exchangesbetween the company and the agency.As part of the agreement, the two NLRC

employees were given keys to the ofce andaccess to BLM’s computer network, includ-ing condential lands and realty les.

One project the two have expedited is thePah Rah/Toquop land exchange proposal,which would exchange 640 acres of NLRCland in the Pah Rah Range near Reno for160 public acres outside Mesquite in south-eastern Nevada. NLRC wants the land tolease or sell a portion of it to another com-pany that would construct a water-cooled

power plant on the site. NLRC’s sister com-pany, Vidler Water, would be the sole pro-vider of the more than 2.2 billion gallons of water the plant would need each year.

The BLM had so much faith in the NLRCrealty specialist that it had him prepare theproject’s feasibility report an evaluationof the costs and benets of a particular pro-posal for review and approval by the BLM’s

state and national ofces. Predictably, theNLRC realty specialist found much to likeabout the project.

One question the report did not addresswas why the BLM needed to expedite theexchange in the rst place. There’s noth-ing remarkable about the Pah Rah parcelthat the government would acquireit hasno unique ecological or environmentalvalue, nor does it face any special threat of development. As to the need for the powerplant, if there ever truly was a Californiaenergy shortage, that threat has passed.In fact, recent proposals for several otherpower plants in Nevada have been can-

celled.

WLXP alerted the New York Times to NLRC’scozy arrangement with BLM, and a front-page story led to harsh criticism fromCongress. Rep. George Miller (D-CA) sent a sharply worded letter to the InteriorDepartment’s Inspector General, urginghim to investigate. Miller said, “this latest disclosure indicates the agency continues tothwart the public interest.....They’ve com-pletely lost their ethical bearings on this.”

Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), who has showna marked preference for enacting sweet-heart deals through Congress, said he’dsupport legislation to end landowners’direct involvement in the government’sprocessing of their own exchanges.

WLXP continues to monitor the many disposals proposed each year for Nevada’spublic lands. We are deeply involved in the

Pah Rah/Toquop proposaland are on the lookout for

pending exchanges at SpringValley and Coyote Springs.

Martin’s Cove area and the Sweetwater River. The Mormon Church wants to purchase the site because of its historical and religious signicance.

Photo: WLXP






HR 4952 was introduced on June 17, 2002and a hearing held just three days later.Democrat Adam Schiff, who represented

the district including Mt. Wilson, had takenno position on the bill. The day after thehearing, however, the Mt. Wilson story showed up on the front page of the Los Angeles Times “Eastern Lawmaker SeeksLand Giveaway-in L.A.”and suddenly theconveyance didn’t look like the “win-win”deal Peterson’s ofce had called it or thesmall matter Schiff thought it was.

Within a few days, representatives of theForest Service, the Institute, and Peterson

and Schiff’s ofces were up on Mt. Wilson,smiling and shaking hands. The partiesworked out an agreement over mainte-nance responsibilities, and that wacky ideaabout legislation was dropped. Schiff toldthe Times later that the introduction of the bill had had “a catalytic effect on theparties.” But only front page news and thecomplaints of disgusted constituents wereenough to move him in the right direction.The parties will meet again in Decemberto review progress on the newly-amicable

relationship between the institute and theForest Service. The Mt. Wilson conveyanceis unlikely to be proposed again.

Last summer, WLXP helped scuttle a con-gressional land giveaway that would haveprivatized land within the Angeles National

Forest in California. The “Mount WilsonObservatory Preservation and Enhance-ment Act” would have transferred, gratis,110 acres of national forest land to the Mt.Wilson Observatory, which leases 40 acreson a mountaintop near Pasadena. Theobservatory has occupied the site since1904.

Among the many remarkable things about the bill was that it was sponsored by a rep-resentative from Pennsylvania, Republican

John Peterson. Rarely do members pushlegislation to exchange or sell public landoutside of their own states, but it seemsPeterson and his staff have a special rela-tionship with the Observatory. WLXPlearned that Peterson’s Chief of Staff, BobFerguson, was on the board of the Mt.Wilson Institute, a position that put himin clear violation of House ethics rules by pushing the bill.

WLXP alerted the Los Angeles Times to theproposal just before it was introduced.Investigative reporter Chuck Neubauer dis-covered that Rep. Peterson had a couple of axes to grind on the Institute’s behalf: not only does he oppose federal land owner-ship, but like the institute’s directors doesnot believe that global warming is causedby human activity. The deputy director of the institute “was one of the scientists whohelped me form my views on the issue,”said Peterson.

Proponents claimed the institute needed

to own the land because the Forest Servicewas doing a poor job of fullling its main-tenance duties under the lease. Proponentsasserted that in conveying the land thepublic would lose only $1.00, the total rent on the 99-year leasebut in fact the publicwould lose the full land value, estimated by the Forest Service to be about $1 million anacre.

California land giveaway melts after front-page exposure

He forgot to tell

me about it.Rep. John Peterson (R-PA)on his Chief of Staff ’s conict of

interest in the Mt. Wilson deal




If the people lead…As reported in our Winter 2001 newsletter,public lands took a huge beating in theSteens Mountain Cooperative Manage-ment and Protection Act of 2001, a bill that created a cow-free wilderness by allowingranchers on the Steens in southeasternOregon to trade out of some of their hold-ings. The exchanges resulted in the net lossof 86,000 acres of BLM land. In addition toa huge acreage windfall 104,000 acres of public land were traded for 18,000 privateacresSteens ranchers received $5 millionin cash as well as subsidies for water devel-opment and fencing. While we agreed that private holdings in the Steens belonged in

public hands, the Western Land ExchangeProject adamantly opposed the land tradesbecause they so shockingly undervaluedpublic lands. We feared that the inatedvalue the government paid for Steensinholdings would encourage extortionist land exchanges in the area.

Hey, guess what happened.

Just as the rst Steens deal was closing,multi-millionaire George Stroemple of Portland and Sisters, Oregon swooped in

and bought a 1,240-acre ranch inholdingon the Steens that had been identied foracquisition by the Bureau of Land Manage-ment. In the spring of 2002, with the helpof land exchange facilitator Andy Wiessnerof Vail, Colorado, Stroemple put togethera proposal to hand over his Steens pieceto the BLM in exchange for a piece of theDeschutes National Forest next to his ownland in Sisters. Stroemple coveted landalong Squaw Creek, two miles south of thetown. He would add about 700 acres to the

80 acres he already owned inside the forest.Without the trade, Stroemple claimed,he would be forced to develop his Steensinholding, a threat that put some environ-mentalists into the desired state of panic.

The Forest Service did not want to tradethe Squaw Creek piece; it is an important sh habitat restoration area and has amuch higher per-acre value than Stroem-ple’s remote ranch. The proposal got early

support from the Oregon Natural Desert Association (ONDA), while the OregonChapter of the Sierra Club and WildernessWatch of Missoula were disturbed by lan-guage that would allow inappropriate usesin the Steens wilderness, including a run-ning camp, motorized access for ranchers,and re suppression. Even the local water-shed planning councilwhom Stroemplehad attempted to buy off with a $500,000grant included in the billwould not takea denitive stand in support of the legisla-tion.

WLXP opposed the bill for numerous rea-sons, not the least of which was the lack

of any structure for involving the publicin the decision, something normally pro-vided through the National EnvironmentalPolicy Act (NEPA). As the controversy over“Steens II” was drawn out, a groundswellrose among Sisters residents, alarmed at theidea of losing a piece of Squaw Creek andangry at having never been consulted.

In mid-June, with the bill still lacking asponsor, Sisters residents acted quickly tospread awareness in the community, and

forced the City Council to call a hearingon the privatization of Squaw Creek. In amagnicent show of democracy, the hear-ing brought in more than 200 people (in atown with a population under 1,000), withthe majority of speakers opposing the relin-quishment of the Squaw Creek land. Withina week, the Council had taken a unanimousvote against the trade. No member of theOregon delegation would now entertainthe idea of sponsoring the bill, and the leg-islation was never introduced.

While Stroemple claims he will be back witha new trade next year, he and his fellowexchange proponents are left to ponderthe dangers of sidestepping the citizenry and underestimating the passionate attach-ment so many have to public lands. And thenewly-energized protectors of Squaw Creekunderstand that only their vigilance cankeep public lands in public hands.

Our “Citizens’Guide toFederal LandExchanges” hashelped scores of activists workmore effectivelyto safeguardpublic lands

see our websitefor orderinginformation.




…the leaders will follow Last spring, citizens around Mayer, Arizonasuccessfully squelched a land deal proposedbetween the BLM and developer ArandaProperties. In May, the BLM PhoenixOfce began gathering public commentson a trade that would give Aranda about 17,000 acres outside the towns of Dewey,Humboldt, and Mayer for about 9,000acres of private land scattered around vari-ous national monuments and conservationareas in central and southwestern Arizona.

Area residents had had no idea the publiclands they knew and loved might be priva-tized, making room for yet more develop-ment where water supplies are severely lim-

ited. Mayer landowner and rebrand Peggy Titus contacted WLXP for help, tackled theland exchange learning curve, and brought her neighbors into action against the tradeproposal. Locals ooded the BLM ofcewith inquiries and packed hearings to pro-test the proposal. In early June, the YavapaiCounty Board of Supervisors expressed thewill of their constituents by passing a resolu-tion against the exchange. Aranda and theBLM withdrew the project soon after.

The BLM is now updating its land use planfor the area. Activists are using the oppor-tunity to demand that the 17,000 acresAranda covets be removed from the BLM’s“disposal” plans.

WLXP seeks grazing ban onlands acquired by exchangeDuring the NEPA process, agencies fre-quently justify land swaps by citing a need

to acquire threatened or sensitive habitat,but once the trade is complete, permit thesame activities that threatened the land inthe rst place. A common example of thisis an agency opening up newly-acquiredland to grazing, after having touted thesensitivity of the land and the need to bringit under federal protection. This makes nosense, particularly when the acquisitionincludes wetlands or riparian habitat. Wenow uniformly request that the alternativesconsidered by the agency during the NEPA

process for an exchange include a grazingprohibition on the newly-public land, rea-soning that a ban is consistent with the pur-pose and need for the trade.

The agencies have resisted this suggestion,and in fact have dug in their heels against the eminent sense of it. When we urged theBeaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest inMontana to consider putting up a fence tokeep cattle out of a high mountain streamit would acquire in the Thayer Creek Land

Exchange, ofcials balked. When WLXPappealed the Thayer Creek decision, theChief’s ofce agreed with us and told theB-D to redo its analysis.

Just to get our goat, the B-D considered afence that followed the labyrinthine bound-ary of the parcel it would acquire, need-lessly inating installation and maintenancecosts. After we pointed out this absurdity,the B-D considered but ultimately rejected amore logical fencing design.

Partly in response to a challenge fromWLXP, the BLM recently decided toexclude cattle from wetlands and shorelineit will gain in the Hartman-Taft land at Hen-ry’s Lake, Idaho. We’ll continue to pushfor management that is consistent with theagencies’ acquisition of sensitive lands.

In North America there is a lot that is in the public domain,

which has its problems, but at least they are problems we are allenfranchised to work on.

Gary Snyder,The Practice of the Wild




TransitionsOur heartfelt thanks to Rachael Paschal Osborn , who has stepped down from ourboard of directors after ve years as presi-dent. Rachael took a crucial part in thefounding and establishment of the WesternLand Exchange Projectwithout her early encouragement and advice, we wouldn’t behere. Since 1997, she has devoted a great deal of time to both land exchange issuesand the development of our organization.Rachael continues her work as public-inter-est water attorney in Spokane.

Elected to replace Rachael as board presi-dent is Rebecca Rundquist , WLXP board

member since 2000. Rebecca recently added a Master’s in Forestry and Environ-mental Studies from Yale University to herlaw degree from Lewis & Clark, and hasmoved back to Seattle to work on a fellow-ship for the Wilderness Society.

We were very sad to learn of the death of John Jolley, Wyoming public lands activist and publisher of the Grassroots Advocatenewspaper. John, who fought for landexchange reform and won an important

land trade case at the Interior Board of Land Appeals, was an early inspirationin our work and an irreplaceable humanbeing. He passed away on September 18 fol-lowing surgery.

We mourn the passing of Homer Campbell , 82, wisefriend and longtime sup-porter of the WesternLand Exchange Project,who died on July 30, 2002at his home in Corvallis,Oregon. A sh biologist by trade and a full-timeearth-worshipper by vocation,Homer nurtured activismin his family--includingdaughter Linda, who nowworks with WLXPandin his community. Hereminded us all howbeautiful the world can be.

Stefanie Sekich , our Program Coordinatorfor the past three years, hopped a plane forEngland in August. Stefanie is studying at Keele University in Staffordshire, Englandto matriculate a Master of EnvironmentalStudies. We miss her sparkle and know she

will succeed on her new path!

Our new Program Coordinator Linda Camp- bell , above, joined us in August. A graduateof Antioch University in Seattle (BA, Envi-ronmental Studies, 1994), Linda has livedand worked on San Juan Island since 1982.Her passion for wildlife led her to volunteerfor many years at The Whale Museum inFriday Harbor, helping collect and catalog

ID photos of the local killer whales. Sheassisted for fteen years with the efforts of Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehabilitation Centrecaring primarily for injured ravens. Herpersonal admiration for ravens and theirlocal abundance led her to undertake athree-year study of the nesting raven popu-lation on San Juan Island with a small grantfrom Washington Department of Fish &Wildlife. For ten years, she served on theBoard of Directors of the Friends of theSan Juans, working on local land use and

conservation issues. She drafted SJ Coun-ty’s Conversion Option Harvest Plan tobring conservation guidelines into timberharvest/development plans. She worked asan independent consultant in restorationforestry and ecology. With a daughter stillin high school on the island, Linda nowdivides her time between WLXP’s Seattleofce and her computer on San Juan. Youcan contact Linda at the ofce or by emailat [email protected].

The late Homer Campbell with Janine.Photo: WLXP

Photo: WLXP




Members & donors keep us on the path...We couldn’t do what we do without Clar-inda Vail, Beth Fries and Darren Van Pelt,Lynne Bama, Colleen O’Sullivan, GeorgeTsiolis, Craig Lorch, Jock Pribnow, BruceGaynor, Charles Hancock, Victor Magis-trale, Suzanne Artemieff, Mark Drake,Deb and Garth Ferber, Dave Atcheson,

Paul Swetik, Fayette Krause, Jim and LindaBrousseau, Alison and William Austin,Howard Grooters, John Jones, DonaldFerry, Rebecca Rundquist, MarianneDugan, and Mike Maloney.

Please help us meet this matching-grant challenge!WLXP needs your support to meet a matching grant of $5,000from the Hugh and Jane Ferguson Foundation. To qualify, we

must raise $5,000 in memberships and donations in the next twomonths. The Seattle-based foundation made this generous offerto encourage your participation in our efforts to keep public landsin public hands.

Your membership also maintains our legal standing to challengebad land dealswe need all of you who love the land to becomemembers of WLXP. As you enjoy the gifts of the public domain,experience the satisfaction of knowing that you put teeth in thebite of an organization working every day to safeguard these trea-sures. Donations are, as always, tax-deductible. Please give!

We gratefully acknowledgethe following foundations that have supported our work.Weeden FoundationNew-Land FoundationWilburforce FoundationCarolyn FoundationBen & Jerry’sBurning FoundationRockefeller Family FundFurther FoundationStrong Foundation for Environmental ValuesUnity Avenue FoundationMaki FoundationShared Earth Foundation

Special thanksWe want to thank our good friends at Public Employees for EnvironmentalResponsibility for the incredible work they do to protect whistleblowers, and for theirhelp in exposing corruption in the BLM’sland exchange program, and for gener-ously providing space in their ofce for theweary WLXP traveler. Jeff, Mark, Dennis,Eric, Dan, Kim, and Dianna, it is a joy towork with you!

Thanks to the Southern Utah Wilder-ness Alliance, especially Gail Hosskisson,who pulled out all the stops on the copy machine to help us battle Utah’s not-so-Swell land deal.




Keeping Public Lands Out of Corporate HandsPlease help support our work for public lands by completing this formand returning it with your tax-deductible membership/donation to the

Western Land Exchange Project PO Box 95545

Seattle, WA 98145-2545

Name:________________________________________________________________________

Address: ______________________________________________________________________

City:___________________________________State: _____________ Zip:______________

Phone: ________________________________Fax:___________________________________

Email: ________________________________________________________________________

Afliations:____________________________________________________________________

regular $35 student/optional low rate $20

contributing $125 Public Lands Advocate $500+

Western Land Exchange Project PO Box 95545Seattle, WA 98145-2545

New WLXP website brings it all homeAs a lapsed Luddite who can remem-ber when PCs didn’t exist, I nd that

many web sites confuse and frustrateme; some are downright scary. Not so with the new, vastly improvedwww.westlx.org, re-designed by web goddess Sheila Hoffman. It issimple, direct, and very aestheti-cally pleasing.

You can join our membership,order our publications, read back

issues of our newsletter, sign up to receive

email alerts, and read topical newspaperarticles that go back to 1998.

Every two weeks we update our Project News. We provide links to the latest newsIn the Media. Through Essential Links youcan nd case studies, land exchange laws,and federal agency information. Needto know if there’s a bad land exchangeplanned in your neighborhood? See ourTake Action page to learn, step by step,how to take effective action to protect yourpublic lands!

Documents

WLP News No 9