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USDA OFFICIAL QUESTIONS LAND DEAL

REVIEW OF CATAWBA SWAP REQUESTED

Date: Thursday, March 25, 1999 Section: VIRGINIA Page: B1

By C.S. MURPHY THE ROANOKE TIMES

Another high-ranking federal official has joined the ranks of people who are
uneasy about a proposed public-private land swap in Catawba.

Jack L. Craven, director of lands for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has
asked the National Landownership Adjustment Team to review the proposed
transaction.

"Due to the high level of public interest associated with this exchange
proposal, I have requested that the ... team complete an oversight
review ... prior to making a formal decision to consummate the exchange,"
he wrote recently.

For months, Catawba residents have criticized the U.S. Forest Service's
assertion that two parcels of North Mountain land are of equal value, and
thus good candidates for a public-private land swap.

Residents say Forest Service land involved in the swap is far more valuable
than the private land, owned by David Turner of Florida.

A preliminary decision on the swap is expected before the end of April, said
Robert Boardwine, district manager of the George Washington and Jefferson
National Forests.

Craven's comments came in a recent letter to Janine Blaeloch director of

the Western Land Exchange.

Blaeloch founded her organization, which deals exclusively with public-

private swaps, more than a year ago after battling an exchange on
Huckleberry Mountain in King County, Wash.

Blaeloch believes the national forestry land-swap program is unfair to

taxpayers because of the Forest Service's secretive appraisal procedures.

The Forest Service has the power to swap public for private land as long as
the two parcels are of equal value and the exchange is in the public's best
interest. But it is the service's practice to withhold appraisal information
from public scrutiny until after deals go through.

Blaeloch and Catawba residents aren't the only ones with questions about
the proposed exchange.

http://www.westlx.org/news_articles/Roanoke01.html 9/12/2002
Roanoke Times Online Archives Page 2 of 2

U.S. Department of Agriculture Inspector General Roger Viaderosaid in

October that he believes many Forest Service land swaps are based on
questionable appraisals and represent "a personal affront to every
American."

Viadero said his concern that the public is coming out on the losing end of
these deals has caused him to expand a 2-year-old investigation into the
land-swap program.

Viadero said he hopes to conclude a study of land trades in California,

Arizona and New Mexico before deciding whether to look at trades in other
parts of the country. The Catawba exchange hasn't been investigated by his
office.

Officials with the national Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and the
state Department of Historic Resources have also expressed concerns about
the Catawba exchange. And state Secretary of Natural Resources John Paul
Woodley Jr. has requested a search for rare plant and animal species on the
private land.

C.S. Murphy can be reached at 981-3114 or cindym@roanoke.com

All content herein is © 1997 Times-World Corp. and may not be republished without
permission.

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