December 10, 1999— The USDA Forest Service, on behalf of the American public, has paid $2.3 million for a conservation easement on 160 acres of land owned by WOMAC Land and Cattle Company in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area (SNRA). WOMAC is a partnership managed by Challis-area residents Bob, Joe and Julian Piva. The property had been offered for sale as a 20-unit subdivision. The agreement was facilitated by the Sawtooth Society, the non-profit citizens group that was formed in 1997 to help protect the SNRA.

Under terms of the conservation easement agreement, WOMAC retains ownership of the property, but relinquishes the right to develop and sell all but three home sites. The three home sites range from 48 to 55 acres and each have building restrictions that preserve the natural and historical character of the SNRA. The Forest Service is responsible for enforcing the conservation easement, which is legally binding even if ownership of the property changes hands.

The agreement came more than three years after WOMAC announced that it intended to develop the Basin Butte Ranches subdivision, located approximately five miles west of Stanley. The announcement prompted concern on the part of policymakers, the press and public because such development, while legal, is contrary to the purpose of the SNRA, which was established by Congress in 1972 to protect the natural, scenic, historic pastoral and recreational values of the area.

When discussions between the Forest Service and WOMAC to restrict development on Basin Butte Ranches in exchange for a conservation easement broke down in August 1997, the Sawtooth Society met with both parties, urging them to resume talks. This summer, the Society facilitated an agreement between the Forest Service and WOMAC regarding the non-financial terms of the conservation easement agreement on Basin Butte Ranches. The Society also shared the cost of an appraisal with the WOMAC that would establish the fair market value of the conservation easement on Basin Butte Ranches. The appraisal was completed this fall and approved by the Forest Service after a thorough review to ensure that it conformed to federal appraisal standards.

Commenting on the transaction, Society President Bethine Church said, "The agreement between the Forest Service and the Piva families is of substantive and symbolic importance. Substantive because it stops a high-density subdivision from being built in the shadow of the Sawtooth Mountains and preserves open space in the incomparable Sawtooth National Recreation Area. Symbolic because it’s a model of how those with legitimate, but differing objectives can constructively resolve their differences."

Senator Mike Crapo summarized his feelings regarding today’s announcement. "I think that we need to start with the recognition of the tremendous environmental beauty and heritage that we have in the SNRA and why all of us are so committed to making sure that we preserve it," Senator Crapo stated. "With that in mind, we’ve waited so long to finish up the protection with these easements that its time that it finally happened. To me its just a tremendously rewarding opportunity to be here and to work with the Forest Service and to see how the Forest Service and the Sawtooth Society have worked well together with the private sector and the private landowners in making sure we achieve the protection of our enviromnent that is so critical here."

Senator Crapo added, "It’s a wonderful step forward, but we’re not done yet. We have a tremendous amount of effort underway to make sure in Washington that we get the necessary funding to finish the job. I’m hopeful that as we do this that the entire state, in fact the entire nation, will recognize how we have been able to protect the interests of private property owners, while making sure that the interests of all of us in preserving these tremendous and grand and beautiful environmental treasures that we have here in Idaho….."

Bill LeVere, Sawtooth National Forest Supervisor, said, "We are pleased to recognize this very significant accomplishment. Since the establishment of the SNRA in 1972, nearly $53 million has been invested on behalf of the American people in carrying out the Congressional mandate to preserve and protect the many special values of this area. This is being achieved through the purchase of conservation easements, such as the one we are celebrating today. We want to express our sincere appreciation to the Piva family, the Sawtooth Society and the Idaho Congressional delegation for their support and willingness to work together to make this happen."

The members of the Piva family that comprise WOMAC Land and Cattle Company said, "We are happy to have achieved a mutually agreeable conservation easement contract with the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. We commend the SNRA administration, especially Carol Brown, SNRA Lands Specialist, and Bob Hayes and the Sawtooth Society for their understanding of and respect for private property rights and the importance of those rights to property owners and the communities in which they live. This conservation easement contract helps maintain the tax base of Custer County, so vital to schools and emergency services supported by property tax dollars; while also protecting the primary purposes for which the SNRA was established. The conservation easement program of the SNRA, as mandated by Congress in 1972, can and does work when initiated with courtesy and respect, and pursued with fairness and consideration to all parties involved."

After a hiatus of more than a decade in its program to acquire conservation easements on private land in the SNRA, the Forest Service has concluded six agreements covering 248 acres during the past year. The stepped up effort was made possible when Congress resumed federal funding to the agency for the acquisition of conservation easements. With the active support of Idaho’s congressional delegation, $5.6 million in federal money has been appropriated to preserve open space in the SNRA since 1996.

The 756,000-acre SNRA includes approximately 25,000 acres of private property, more than 90 percent of which is now protected from visually impairing and large-scale development by conservation easements. About 2,250 acres remain unprotected from such development.

The Sawtooth Society and Forest Service are implementing a strategy to acquire conservation easements on those properties that, if developed, would represent the greatest threat to the integrity of the SNRA. Successful implementation will require the continued appropriation by Congress of federal funds to the Forest Service.

CONTACTS: Bill LeVere, Forest Supervisor Sawtooth National Forest
208-737-3200
Bob Hayes, Executive Director
Sawtooth Society
(W) 208-387-0852

"It's time to protect the White Clouds for good," says conservationist Pat Ford. The Boulder-White Clouds Council wants wilderness designation for 500,000 acres of the Boulder White Clouds region, about half of which is within the SNRA.

"It was a threat to the White Clouds, the Asarco mine at Castle Peak, that really got the area made part of the SNRA," Ford says. "Yet we ended up without the protection to make sure that mining in the White Clouds wouldn't happen."

There are some who don't share the Council's goal. Challis Representative Lenore Barrett, a miner and private property rights advocate, opposes wilderness designation. "I don't support the expansion of anything federal," Barrett says. "Once they draw a line, it becomes like an amoebae, it keeps creeping and creeping."

"Over the last five years, we've seen our budget basically cut in half while we've seen our visitation go up about 30 percent," says the SNRA's Paul Reis. As a result, the SNRA offers fewer services for visitors and has reduced maintenance of roads, trails and campgrounds.

The SNRA, however, has a new method of raising money. Congress authorized the SNRA to begin charging recreation fees. Visitors to the area will pay two dollars a day or five dollars a year to hike, fish, and recreate in the SNRA.

The fees could generate as much as $750,000 per year, which Reis says, will be used to improve recreation opportunities in the SNRA.

Forest Service Information

The trees of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area are under attack -- by mountain pine beetles. The beetles bore into the bark of mature lodgepole pine and lay their eggs. When the eggs hatch, the larvae feed on the inner bark of the tree. Eventually, the tree dies and fire sweeps through the forest, clearing the ground for new trees.

"The pine beetle has been around forever, as long as pine trees have, so it's part of the natural process," says forester Jim Rineholt. What is new, however, is modern man is around to witness the process.

Today, most of the lodgepole pines in the SNRA are 80 to 100 years old, and prone to beetle attacks and ultimately, fire. To prevent a catastrophic blaze, the Forest Service plans to begin setting small, controlled fires within the SNRA.

Of all the issues facing the SNRA, few are more challenging than protecting endangered salmon. Once, thousands of sockeye and Chinook salmon spawned in the Salmon River and its tributaries. Today, only a few fish survive the thousand mile journey upstream from the ocean.

During spawning season, the SNRA now restricts rafting, forcing floaters to portage around some stretches of the Salmon River.

"We know as boats go by or the salmon are disturbed, they leave their redds and consume energy," Reis says. "They have a limited amount of energy. They have one thing they need to do before they die, and that is to reproduce. If their energy is spent in other ways, the species may not be able to survive."

"It's something, we as guides, don't really want to do," says river guide Jeff Dodds, "but if it helps the salmon out, then it's a good process."

Forest Service Information