Forest Service Consolidation Rocks North-Central Residents Merging Timberlands Would Threaten Rural Communities

North-central Idaho residents fear the National Forest Service is going to abandon the rural communities it helped build in its campaign to erase a $20 million budget deficit in the region.

Proposals to merge some forests to save money on administrative overhead and relocate the firefighting operation now in Grangeville only served to further aggravate people seriously concerned about the dramatic declines in timber harvests over the past decade.

“I am encouraging people to speak out,” said Nez Perce National Forest Supervisor Coy Jemmett, although he concedes to those expecting their opinions to be ignored that the decisions on how to cut up to $500,000 out of his budget are going to be made at a much higher level than his.

Idaho County Commissioner George Enneking was among many questioning Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck’s contention that recreation will become the agency’s major economic contribution.

Recreation may be an important part of the economy, Enneking said, but it does not generate the kind of cash logging does - cash that helps local governments finance services in areas with vast tracts of nontaxable federal land.

Responsible logging also keeps forests healthy while reducing the threat of runaway wildfires, he said.

And James Rockwell of Grangeville contended that Forest Service helped build communities like his through the timber program of generations pasts, and it now has an obligation to help them survive - an obligation Rockwell says is not being fulfilled with the dramatic reductions in timber cuts over the past several years.