Greyhound Land Exchange

[Brian Brademeyer]

The Forest Service is proposing the Greyhound Land Exchange to trade 97 acres of isolated NFS lands in two parcels, for 120 acres of land within the Norbeck Wildlife Preserve, as shown in the Map below.

 

FotN Greyhound Land Exchange Comment Letter, October 12, 2011, 636 kb

 

Pros and Cons are as follows:

 

Greyhound Land Exchange

Pros

• The lands to be acquired by the Forest Service are within the Norbeck Wildlife Preserve, consolidating Federal ownership within this Congressional protected area.
• The lands to be acquired would provide additional wildlife protections by precluding future private development on these lands.
• The lands to be acquired are also within the Proposed Okawita Paha National Monument, allowing public management as a sacred landscape under full authority of Federal laws.
• The lands of the Black Hills National Forest would increase by 20 (or possibly 60 to 100) acres, including ¼ (to possibly ½) mile of Greybound Creek riparian area.
• The lands to be privatized are surrounded by private lands, consolidating areas likely to undergo future private development.

Cons

• The lands to be privatized will likely be developed (both parcels have boundaries on paved county roads, are within one mile of US Highway 16, and are less than 20 miles from Rapid City).
• The lands to be privatized are not “isolated parcels” as the generally understood, since they border on paved roads.  Adjacent landowners were not allowed to make a counter-offer on purchase of these federal lands.
• No survey for burial sites has been conducted on the lands to be privatized, removing any such sites from protection under NAGPRA that could have been identified prior to the land trade.
• Outright purchase of the offered private lands was not evaluated as an Alternative.

Friends of the Norbeck Position

• The trade is in the public interest, with Alternative A-3, acquiring the greatest length of Greyhound Creek drainage, being the preferred acquisition option.
• Due to the high development potential of the lands to be privatized, the acquired Norbeck acres must be increased to 160 (or even 200) acres.
• An outright purchase option should be thoroughly evaluated and included as an option in the Final Greyhound Land Exchange EA, keeping the offered parcels in the public domain.
• Comprehensive burial site inventories should be conducted on the offered Federal parcels before the final decision is made.

 

 

Send Comments (with "Greyhound Land Exchange" in the Subject line), by October 16, 2011, to Meagan Beuhler at:

 

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