[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 128 (Thursday, October 3, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S9909]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. CRAIG:
  S. 3047. A bill to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to sell or 
exchange all or part of certain parcels of National Forest System land 
in the State of Idaho and use the proceeds derived from the sale or 
exchange for National Forest System purposes; to the Committee on 
Energy Natural Resources.
  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Idaho 
Panhandle National Forest Improvement Act of 2002. This bill is an 
opportunity to provide lands for local benefits and to meet the 
facility needs of the Forest Service in the Silver Valley of Idaho. 
This bill will offer for sale or exchange administrative parcels of 
land in the Idaho Panhandle National Forest that the Forest Service has 
identified as no longer in the interest of public ownership and that 
disposing of them will serve the public better. The proceeds from these 
sales will be used to improve or replace the Forest Service's Ranger 
Station in Idaho's Silver Valley.
  The Forest Service administrative parcels identified for disposal 
include the land permitted by the Granite/Reeder Sewer District on 
Priest Lake, Shoshone Camp in Shoshone County, and the North-South Ski 
Bowl, south of St. Maries.
  The bill also directs the Forest Service to improve or construct a 
new ranger station in the Silver Valley. The current ranger station is 
in dire need of repair or replacement, and this will ensure my 
commitment to a continued and increased presence of the Forest Service 
in the Silver Valley.
  This is a win-win situation for the taxpayers, the Forest Service, 
the residents of the Silver Valley, and the permittees on the parcels 
of land to be disposed of.
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