This afternoon (January 22, 1999) at the headquarters of the Idaho
Department of Lands in Boise, The Owyhee Canyonlands Coalition (which
consists of 32 conservation, outfitting, wildlife, and public interest
groups including Idaho Watersheds Project) outbid the Air Force for the
lease of almost 1000 acres of Idaho public school endowment lands.
Represented at the bidding table by an employee of the Army Corps of
Engineers, the Air Force opened the bidding with a bid of $10.00. Jim
Burnham, representing the member groups of the Owyhee Canyonlands
Coalition, responded with a bid of $5000.00. The Air Force did not respond,
thereby leaving OCC as the winner of the auction !
OCC believes that the Air Force will appeal the auction to the Idaho
Board
of Land Commissioners, which has scheduled a special meeting to consider
this lease next Tuesday, January 26 at 9:00 A.M. at the Joe Williams Office
Building in Boise. The appeal, if filed, will no doubt request that the
lease be awarded to the Air Force on national security or similar grounds.
Because the auction is required by Idaho law and the Idaho
constitution to
increase returns to the Idaho School Endowment Fund and because the Air
Force chose not to bid competitively, it will be interesting to see what
the Land Board does in this case. Perhaps the Air Force is too poor to bid
like many ranchers !
OCC will probably challenge the participation of
Governor Dirk Kempthorne
for the Tuesday meeting of the Board since he (as a U.S. Senator) forced
through a relunctant Congress the BLM land withdrawal in Owyhee County last
summer which makes possible the Air Force bombing range proposal. The
Governor clearly cannot represent the schoolchildren of Idaho when he has
been the chief proponent of the Air Force to date.