Could Bamboo Be a Viable Alternative to Lumber?
For the second year in a row, the failure of a levy to fund MVSD 244 sends a clear signal that alternative solutions to generate revenue must be considered. To depend year after year on hit-and-miss federal handouts and increased property taxes is irresponsible and unsustainable. Among the most viable of solutions would be the Central Idaho Land Exchange. This proposal would transfer private lands in the upper Lochsa basin to the USFS to protect their special historical, ecological and recreational value. It would bring federal forestland into Public School Endowment ownership (key point), and the lands would be managed by both federal and state for timber harvest and remain open for recreation. Contrary to what environmental interest groups would have you believe, no lands would be transferred to private ownership. Read that last sentence again. In fact, 38,000 acres in the region currently held by private interests would be deeded to the forest service and maintained in perpetuity as public lands. It is win-win. Go to central-id-lex_fact-sheet_april2018_final.pdf (idaho.gov)