www.semissourian.com/story/1198270.html -
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Published on: 4/13/2007
Last Visited: 4/13/2007
Charlotte Wiggins, public affairs director for Mark Twain National Forest, said her office identified the tracts of land to be sold based on specific qualifications.
"These are pieces of property not connected to existing parcels," she said."They're pieces that don't contribute to our overall plan of restoring Missouri's forests and because we can't get to them, they're too expensive for us to try to manage," she said.
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Wiggins said that during the proposal's public comment period, which ended in May, Missouri forest offices received a combined average of 20 calls per hour.
She said even though the proposal is far from being approved by Congress, it's even further from resulting in the sale of any of Missouri's forest.
"There's a process.They will put the first pieces up for sale offering them to nongovernment agencies and environmental groups, then they'll sell the pieces with no controversy attached to them," she said, adding "If they raise $880 million, then they'll stop the auction right there.