Amador County – Amador County Board of Supervisors discussed asking the U.S. Forest Service to consider changing a Mammoth Base Land Exchange for 155 acres of private land in Amador County to instead make the trade for National Forest lands on which summer homes are located in Amador County.

Supervisor Chairman John Plasse said the Mammoth Ski Area swap seeking 20 acres in federal land around its ski resort in Inyo County seeks to trade it with the U.S. Forest Service in exchange for 1,700 private acres of parcels in six counties. He said raw USFS land was developed into a ski resort, it increased the value of adjacent raw forest land, and the Forest Service will “derive benefit from private investment.”

The 155-acre Martin Meadow, on Highway 88 in upper northeast Amador County, near Kirkwood Ski Area, is now for sale for $1.8 million. Plasse said if it is swapped to become part of federally managed El Dorado National Forest, it will effectively be removed from the county tax base.

Plasse said “it represents a part of our tax base, and instead it’s being bargained away for the benefit of Inyo County,” and at a loss to the tax base for Amador County and other counties.

The swap includes 20.6 acres in the town of Mammoth Lakes, to be swapped for 1,729 acres of private land in Inyo, Mono, Amador, El Dorado, Stanislaus and Plumas Counties.

Supervisor Brian Oneto said there was one very generic letter that told of the Mammoth Land Base Swap, but there should have been dialogue with the county when taking private land from the county tax base. He said there are summer home owners with homes on federal land in Amador County, and he would like to see a swap of the land in Amador County to be traded for some of those summer home lands.

Oneto said the Martin Meadow, known as the Wakefield Property, has a cabin used as a base for a cattle lease on federal land, also income to Amador County. He said he would like to try to trade land elsewhere for that.

Oneto said he would support the Forest Service acquiring that land but only with a swap for federal land inside Amador County, holding summer homes.

Supervisor Louis Boitano said the Forest Service refuses to talk to local government, and Plasse said they refuse to follow their own rules, which say they must coordinate locally in land swaps. He said the Forest Service was even seeking to replace “coordination” in its guidelines, due to legal connotations, to exchange it with cooperation.

Supervisors approved sending a letter to the Land Exchange Team’s James R. Webb, and also a different letter to District 5 Ranger Randy Moore, the latter copied to Congress.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.