Natural resources panel's makeup is questioned
SANDPOINT — A new advisory board in Bonner County is raising eyebrows.
Bonner County commissioners adopted a resolution earlier this month to create the Natural Resources Committee to help the county coordinate with state and federal officials on lands and resource management issues.
Appointees to the panel so far include John Finney Jr., a local attorney and member of the Sandpoint Winter Riders; Alton Howell, president of the Bonner County Farm Bureau; Jim McReynolds, Priest Lake snowmobiling advocate and treasurer of Priest Lake Search & Rescue; and Cornel Rasor, a Sandpoint businessman and former county commissioner.
The appointments, however, are raising murmurs in the community that the board lacks diversity and skews heavily toward conservative points of view on land management and resource issues.
“There is no balance of viewpoints on the council to advise the commission in a meaningful manner. Instead, it appears the council was created in order to take the federal government to task,” one critic said in an anonymous letter to The Daily Bee that was received on Friday.
The panel is expected to advise the county on a pending U.S. Forest Service plan that will guide management of the Idaho Panhandle and Kootenai national forests for the next decade, critical habitat designations for caribou and wolverine, and the issue of federal lands ownership in Idaho.
Commissioner Mike Nielsen believes the majority of the board is fairly neutral and hopes it will ultimately include Phil Hough, the executive director of the Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness.
“He can debate an issue with facts and I think he would be a good balance on the board,” Nielsen said on Friday.
Hough, however, is declining the appointment at this time due to time constraints involving his schedule and the looming Nov. 26 deadline for objections to the forest plan to be filed with the Forest Service.
Although Hough said an advisory committee would likely aid the commission, it would have to have a clear purpose and mandate, be comprised of a broader set of stakeholders and engage the public.
“Anything less could lead to mistrust and lack of public support,” Hough said in a letter to commissioners.
Nielsen contends there is a dearth of representation of Bonner County residents on forest planning and species management issues.
“The environmental groups, they’re well represented. They don’t have to belong to this group to be represented — they’ve got tons of resources and groups out there taking care of their interests,” he said.
Nielsen also hopes the committee can help convince state lawmakers to gain control of federal lands in Idaho.
“The bottom line is that if Idaho is going to control its destiny, it’s going to have to control its land,” Nielsen said.
The committee is tentatively scheduled to meet on Tuesday, but there was no agenda as of Friday.