Idaho should buy Dworshak Reservoir lands instead of using Payette Lake lands as a trade

The proposed exchange of Payette Lake State endowment lands in Valley County for Trident Holdings, LLC-owned timberland north of Dworshak Reservoir is a bad deal for Idaho. The North Dworshak timberland is exactly the type of timberland asset the Land Board should direct the Idaho Department of Lands to pursue the acquisition of under a market value purchase agreement.

Over the last decade the Land Board directed Idaho Department of Lands to sell off the lakefront cottage sites around Payette Lake and Priest Lake. Through July 2019 these sales had generated $240 million. The Land Board approved the Department of Lands acquisition of 32,160 acres of timberland from Molpus Woodlands Group for $42,245,629 ($1,319/acre). This leaves approximately $200 million from the divestiture of cabin sites to be reinvested.

One argument for the exchange is the McCall area endowment lands carry an annual management expense of $276,000 for the 28,000 acres, or about $10 per acre. Timberland management involves annual expenses, and the North Dworshak lands are no different. The annual management expenses include fire suppression and road maintenance providing regional benefits beyond protecting timber. Idaho Department of Lands’ annual appropriation of $325 million doesn’t mean we should liquidate all State endowment lands.

Timber crops in Idaho’s temperate forests grow on approximate 60-year rotations. Timberlands generally have 2% annual rates of return over a rotation. Depending on the species mix, stocking rates and the current state of the softwood lumber market timber harvests typically net $2,000 to $4,000 per acre. The Payette Lake lands and the North Dworshak lands are productive enough to easily exceed their management costs under sound silviculture.

Idahoans need to advocate for sustainable forest management including timber harvests on state endowment lands. A sustainably sized timber harvest and sawmill processing system can also provide a strong economic base with predictable and returns to support Idaho schools.

The proposed land exchange will exploit appraisal rules to disadvantage the State Lands Endowment. By considering the 30,000 acres of timber land around Payette Lake the tract size dictates appraising this property as timberland. But looking holistically at the lands around Payette Lake there are significant portions of this land suitable for development that would eclipse the value as timberland. The Land Board and the citizen stakeholders need only look at the recent cottage site sales to see evidence of the profit that can be garnered in selling these lands in smaller units over time. The same demand does not exist on the north Dworshak lands at this time.

This is why the state Constitution limits the Land Board to the sale of endowment lands as follows: “not to exceed one hundred sections of state lands shall be sold in any one year, and to be sold in subdivisions of not to exceed three hundred and twenty acres of land to any one individual, company or corporation.” A land exchange narrowly skirts this in a disingenuous manner.

Governor Little said the Payette Lake land is “A big hairy piece of ground,” warranting very careful considerations. He is not alone in his love for McCall and Payette Lake. Trident Holdings as well as the public that opposed the land exchange at the recent McCall City Council meeting showed their affection for the area.

This emotional response to the beauty of the lands under state stewardship is a point of pride. These Department of Lands-managed endowment lands benefit schools with sustainable forestry harvests, and they provide public benefits like hunting, fishing, berry picking, hiking, mountain biking and the scenic beauty that supports the economy of McCall and surrounding areas.

I concur with Governor Little that Idaho needs to get this right. The Land Board should not rush Idaho into a land exchange. The state should pursue the acquisition of the Trident Holdings North Dworshak timberlands with the roughly $200 million in funds from the divestment of cottage sites. After 100 years of state management, the North Dworshak lands will similarly move citizen stakeholders, as beautiful forests producing a stable and reliable timber harvest to fund our schools for centuries to come.