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?01 20515

June 30, 2015

Tom Tidwell, Chief

U.S. Forest Service

1400 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, DC 20250?1111

Dear Chief Tidwell:

We write to strongly urge the Forest Service to complete the Cooper Spur Government Camp
land exchange mandated by the Omnibus Public Lands Act of 2009 (PL 1 1 1-1 1, ?2009 Act?).
While we acknowledge and appreciate the agency?s efforts and progress toward completion of
the exchange, we are extremely concerned that its resolution is very delinquent, and this lack of
completion is clearly contrary to our legislative intent, the language of the 2009 Act, and the
interests of the public and our environment.

The purpose of this land exchange was to help resolve decades of dispute over proposed
development on the northeast side of Mt. Hood, as well as to guide future development on the
mountain?s south side in a manner consistent with state and local land use laws. By requiring the
exchange, we intended that the land in Government Camp be prioritized for development, and
the larger parcel at Cooper Spur be protected from development under federal ownership. These
are important results for the local communities in Government Camp and the Hood River Valley,
and they achieve signi?cant preservation of habitat and watershed health on the northeast side of
the mountain. Thus, this exchange had and continues to have the broad support of local
businesses, conservation organizations, and citizen groups, as well as the Oregon Congressional
delegation.

However, completion of the exchange is exceptionally behind the schedule set by the 2009 Act.
In that legislation, Congress required the Forest Service to complete the exchange within 16
months. It has now been nearly 75 months, and the parties have yet to reach agreement over the
terms of the wetland conservation easement, one of several remaining components.

The most recent complication is the conservation easement for the wetlands on the Government
Camp parcels. This is just one challenge in a long history of delays on this land exchange, in
spite of our repeated calls for urgency on behalf of the Mt. Hood community and the
environment. The Mt. Hood National Forest and Mt. Hood Meadows have been working on the
easement for over a year, but the Forest Service recently has indicated its willingness to negotiate
no further.

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We urgently ask that the agency come back to the table and provide further opportunity to
discuss, re?ne, and resolve the language of the easement toward achievement of the purpose of
the exchange: marketable and ?nanceable development of the Government Camp parcels for
conservation at C00per Spur. Furthermore, we call upon the agency to complete the remaining
components of the land exchange within one year from the date of this letter in order to avoid
further noncompliance with the statutory deadline and further frustration of the intent of the 2009
Act.

It would be best if the Forest Service took swift action now to resolve this inef?cient, long
protracted process. Failure to do so will likely elicit strong response from the public, possibly
subjecting the agency to lawsuit, and will also necessitate other Congressional action. Let?s bring
this nearly ?ve year delayed land exchange to a close; any further delay is absolutely
unacceptable.

Sincerely,

     

 

  
 
 

Earl Blum uer Ron Wyden
Member of Congress United States Senato

United States Senator

CC: Jim Pe?a, Regional Forester
Paci?c Northwest Region
US Forest Service
1220 SW 3rd Avenue
Portland, OR 97204