Let’s find a way to keep Payette Lake Land in public hands
An investment firm is proposing to privatize 28,000 acres of currently publicly accessible and wildlife rich state lands surrounding Payette Lake.
Let’s start by acknowledging this is a big, beloved, and scenic piece of highly valued land nearly every Idahoan is familiar with.
Outline of Idaho Department of Lands parcel proposed for sale into private ownership.
It is without any embellishment to say privatizing this Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) parcel will change how we experience McCall and the surrounding area forever and in a fundamental way.
If you’ve fished kokanee or tiger muskie in Little Payette Lake, picked huckleberries or morels up the east slope of Payette lake, camped on the side of Lick Creek Road, ridden your ATV up to Shaw Twin Lakes, climbed to the “Thinking Spot” (the exact location of which shall not be disclosed of course), jumped off the cliffs on the east bank, put in a canoe at Jug Creek Reservoir, caught a glimpse of moose while floating the lazy North Fork Payette, or if you’ve simply marveled at the unfragmented forest and exposed Idaho batholith on the slopes west, north, and east of Payette Lake and Little Payette Lake, then you are a beneficiary of the current status of that state land parcel.
But all of those activities and places will go away if the Idaho Land Board decides to accept the proposal from Trident Holdings LLC, which will sell off those lands (and shorelines) into private hands. Trident’s proposal includes using the money from the sale of the Payette parcel to purchase land in north Idaho to log.
Remember that IDL is constitutionally mandated to “secure the maximum long-term financial return” on it’s lands. Trident asserts the state is not fulfilling its mandate, but will if the land is sold. Understanding that privatization of these lands and waters Idahoans love and use every day, Trident created a website ironically called Preserve McCall to get in front of the coming PR nightmare by making some reassuring sounding, but questionably presumptuous claims. Basically, they advocate that to keep these lands public, we have to privatize them. Seriously.
Trident’s proposal is a business venture. It needs to make money. It wont make money sitting on this land. This is prime real estate. Who doesn’t want property next to or overlooking Payette or Little Payette Lake? Perhaps the better question is: who can afford such an opportunity? More than ever, out-of-state money and out-of-state values are coming to the Gem State. How many examples do we need of what happens to large swaths of land previously enjoyed by Idahoans once it’s sold to new owners who want to turn a buck? This land is poised for McMansions and sprawling forest properties that will be subdivided and the public will lose this asset.
So, what can be done? There are a few options available to fulfill IDL’s constitutional mandate and keep these lands public, that don’t involve sale into private ownership. The only way to explore our options for preserving this land is to bring the state together with the citizens of McCall, their City Council and Chamber of Commerce, and other stakeholders to discuss the values of the landscape and hash out options that keep this slice of Idaho, Idaho. Idaho Department of Parks and Rec. acquiring the land could expand Ponderosa State Park to include a protected multi-use Idaho asset…
IWF is committed to facilitating this conversation with stakeholders and will be reaching out immediately to agencies, the Governor’s Office, and the Land Board. In the meantime, you can tune into the Land Board meeting at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, July 21 to hear more about the proposed land exchange.