After the other topic about an outdated bill to sell National Lands was posted, I have found today that NOW President Bush has included SELLING National Forest Service Lands in his 2007 budget.

The Followinf was taken off of the Forest Service's own web site.
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The FY 2007 President's Budget proposes to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools program for another five years. To help fund this initiative, the Administration recommends selling a limited number of acres of National Forest System lands around the nation. Lands that are potentially eligible have been identified and are displayed in a table at the following link Lands Potentially Eligible for Sale by State and National Forest.

Disclaimer: All parcels shown are subject to change without prior notification. Reported acreage for parcels are approximate and are subject to change. The Forest Service does not warrant the current condition of title for parcels listed. Outstanding rights and restrictions may encumber the title to any or all of the subject parcels.

Attached are sample maps displaying the types of properties that are being considered for conveyance as part of the Secure Rural School and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000. Sample maps from some of the regions are available.

You will need Adobe Reader to open and view these maps. The software is available free-of-charge and can be downloaded from the Adobe website.

The maps are large so they may take a while to open.

Montana (Region 1) Bitterroot NF
South Dakota & Wyoming (Region 2) Blackhills NF
Oregon (Region 6) Ochoco NF
Mississippi (Region 8) Bienville NF
The Forest Service will be publishing a notice in the Federal Register around February 28th, requesting comments from the public. At that time, more detailed maps will be available for all lands identified as potentially eligible. The location of the maps will be published on this site at that date.
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NOW----Call your representatives, it worked the last time and can work again.

I did some quick adding and found that there are over 317,000 acres marked for possible sale. While some may be slivers here or there and other pieces may be land locked, all this land provides habitat that can not be developed by private developers.

What a shock, after the other bill was defeated, now this.

I think this is a really, really bad idea. I'm not a political guy, and certainly no liberal, but I hope this president isn't able to screw too much up before he is out of office. Are there no good politicians left?