|
About
Us |
The
Land Trust for the
Little Tennessee
88 East Main Street
P. O. Box 1148
Franklin, NC 28744-1148
Phone: 828-524-2711
Fax: 828-524-4741
Email: LTLT
| What citizens can do The
public will have a 30-day comment period on the proposed parcels.
The U.S. Forest Service will publish a Federal Notice requesting
comment around |
| Snapshot of proposed land sale
Location of land
To check on a particular parcel, use the interactive feature of the U.S.F.S. website; if it isn't available by next Wednesday, visit the Wayah Ranger State on Sloan Road, Franklin. |
 |
The
Franklin Press February 17 , 2006 |
USFA lands may hit the auction block By Barbara McRae, Editor Fifty-one parcels of U.S. Forest Service land in Macon County, totaling 2,750.69 acres, could be heading to the auction block. The land is part of 300,000 acres nationwide that may be sold to fund the "Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act" for the next five years. This fund is used to reimburse counties for lost property taxes on land held in the national forests. The proposal is included in the FY2007 federal budget. The sale of the land would take place over five years, and is expected to raise $800 million. The parcels proposed for sale in the Nantahala Forest are considered "outliers." They range in size from 4.32 to 224 acres. None are contiguous to large Forest Service holdings, but some of the parcels have other values, including:
These facts in particular have disturbed some in Macon County, while the very idea of selling forest service land concerns others. "Intrinsically, it bothers me to sell any of this land off, though some may turn out to be justified," said Macon County manager Sam Greenwood. "We need to look at properties adjoining state tracts like the Needmore, also property that is privately held but in conservation easements." Greenwood said he would prefer to see a swap-off, instead of "losing net property." He suggested that it might be possible to the county or state to purchase sensitive tracts, such as those adjoining Needmore lands. Some in the conservation community had stronger words. Selling the land would be a "violation of the public trust," said Paul Carlson, executive director of the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee. "The proposal runs against county efforts to focus growth in appropriate areas of the county," he said. He added that the cost to the county of supporting development that might occur on the sites would exceed the income brought by the sale. "There is a potential huge net loss to Macon County and Western North Carolina," Carlson said. He is especially concerned that the parcels are concentrated on the Cowee Range and in the Needmore section. Needmore lands, 4,500 acres bordering a pristine stretch of the Little Tennessee River, were acquired for conservation by the state in 2003, after an intense public fundraising effort. A quick and rough calculation shows that the sale of these lands would indeed be a "huge net loss" to the county, as Carlson says. Based on current valuations of, say, $7,500 per acre, the 51 Macon County parcels are worth around $20 million. Thus the county would be asked to bear a disproportionate share of the total $800 million foreseen for the land auctions. Furthermore, the county annually receives only about $200,000 per year in "Payment in Lieu of Taxes" funding, so its receipts from the sale would be minimal. "It looks like a wealth transfer from Appalachia to the West," Carlson said. The proposal to sell the lands was announced in a press release on Feb. 6 and major players are still scrambling to understand the full implications. The U.S. Forest Service is providing extensive information on its website. Ranger Mike Wilkins, of the Wayah Ranger District, said Wednesday that U.S. Forest Service lands in Macon County presently total 153,161 acres. Of that, about 45,800 acres lie in the Highlands Ranger District and 107,361 in the Wayah Ranger District. The land proposed for sale represents 1.8 percent of total Forest Service holdings in the county. Of that, 2,195.1 acres are in the Wayah District, 555.59 in the Highlands District. Wilkins said the service is adding map links to the list of properties on its website (www.fs.fed.us/land/staff/rural_schools.shtml), so people can check on sites of concern to them. The links should be in place by Wednesday, Feb 22. "If they aren't on the website by them, people can come by the office and view the parcels on our map," he said. Editorial comment on the proposal has been strongly negative so far. The Raleigh News and Observer called the proposal "alarming" and a "short-lived strategy." The Asheville Citizen-Times said, "If Congress wants to renew this program, it should fund it, not sell off land to fund it for only five years. Pardon us for being cynical, but the total amount represents what the government borrows by lunchtime on any given day." "The merits of this idea are elusive," the Citizen Times continued. "Here in Western North Carolina, as far as we can tell, they're practically non-existent." Still, not everyone opposes the proposal. Wilkins said the first three or four calls to his office after the public announcement were from realtors. |
County governments have traditionally been reimbursed for the taxes they lose when land is held by the U.S. Forest Service. Two mechanisms were historically used to calculate the payments. The county could choose which of these to use for reimbursement:
| • | Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT), which in 2000 was providing a payment per acre for National Forest and U.S. Park Service land in a county. |
| • | The "25 Percent Fund" which provided 25 percent of proceeds from timber sales, mining, recreation fees and the like. |
The "25 Percent Fund" was replaced in 2000 by the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act, which was funded for five years. The five-year period is now up and the Bush administration proposes refunding it by selling off some U.S. Forest lands.
The act provides funding for rural schools and roads, but in North Carolina the money is used for schools.
Macon County has chosen to be reimbursed through Payment in Lieu of Taxes. Last year Macon County received $218,618 from this source ($1.42 per acre).
