Members of the Public Lands Foundation, the nationwide organization of retired BLM employees and others concerned with the welfare of our public domain and natural resources now render a hearty cheer to our sister agency, the Forest Service, for its timely decision to require additional private property as part of the congressionally mandated Snowbasin federal land exchange.
However, in the recent open-door spirit of Utah-SLOC Olympic developments, it would also appear prudent for the Forest Service to now go public with its still-secret land appraisal before titles are passed and the trade is completed.We recognize that the Forest Service is in an awkward, sensitive position with powerful business interests and their Washington colleagues exerting all but untenable political leverage. Still, Ogden District Ranger Ruth Monahan seems to be taking the high road and she is to be congratulated. Further, it would seem that the time is also ripe for some sunlight on the land values that are being bantered about. After all, these are public lands at stake, and the issue is not just a future downhill ski race.
This is all the more ironic considering that the glory of the Utah Winter Olympics was repeatedly stated as the moral justification for past arm twisting and agency badgering associated both with the super-cozy Snowbasin affair and Earl Holding's publicly funded, million-dollar access road.
One of the sadder aspects of the pending land exchange was the earlier implication that the Forest Service had more land than it could adequately manage anyway. This begs the issue. The statement is true in that all the state and federal land management agencies are understaffed.
However, it must also be remembered that the Forest Service, BLM and other public land management agencies are not functioning for the exclusive benefit of their respective employees. Instead, we all served believing that we were but trustees of the nation's magnificent land resource and that those lands were the property of the entire general public.
On the plus side, with the numbers of skiers nationwide dropping off due to aging baby boomers, perhaps one more high-glitz ski run complex and open-space-impacting real estate community are just what Utah needs to turn the recreational tide and redirect all those Sun Valley, Aspen, Snowbird, Park City, etc., outdoor enthusiasts instead to the Ogden highlands.
Stu Carlson
Utah Public Lands Foundation representative
Park City