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| Looking to find Moscow Mountain Cedars Link to Cedar Map |
Descriptive to Accompany Cedar Map Link to Descriptive
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Recent News!
Most recent Development:
East Moscow Mountain Communication Tower:
The Idaho Public Safety Communications (PSC) has applied for a 25-year
lease for one acre of state land at the lookout on East Moscow Mountain
to construct a 125’ high communication tower for state police and other
state public safety communication uses. Trees on the site are
approximately 80’ tall. The surrounding trees would be removed, along
with the trees in a line-of-sight corridor to Mica Peak to the north.
Power would run underground in the road from the last pole on Tamarack
Road to the site, about 4+ miles at $25,600/mile. A 20’x30’ building to
house equipment would be built next to the tower. The road from Tamarack
to the site would be improved by the addition of rock to the roadbed in
the steeper areas.
According to PSC, this tower is needed to replace their current tower
on West Twin, as they are unable to achieve a satisfactory lease
arrangement with the West Twin landowner. The land is currently leased
by Latah County for use as a county park and is visited often by people
from throughout the region for its spectacular view of the Palouse and
Clearwater Country. The land leased by the county includes the ancient
cedar groves below and to the north of the proposed tower site.
The proposed tower site is on public school trust land, managed by the
Idaho Department of Lands under the direction of the Land Board chaired
by the Governor. School trust land is to be managed for the maximum
long-term economic return to the school trust. The proposed lease would
be for $3,000/year as a communication tower site. The county park lease
for the entire 296-acre parcel is about $5,000/year. The Land Board
will make the ultimate decision after a required public hearing is
held.
The proposed site is in the Agriculture/Forestry Zone of Latah County’s
Land Use Ordinance. Communication towers are conditionally permitted in
the Ag/Forest zone after public hearing. State law requires that state
agencies respect local land use regulations whenever possible, but case
law has determined that uses of school trust lands do not have to comply
with local planning and zoning if the Land Board deems it is not in the
interest of the school trust to do so.
Bennett Lumber owns and operates a communication tower on Bennett
property immediately adjacent to the current tower on West Twin.
Bennett Lumber has said they are willing to co-locate the state dishes
on their tower. If the current tower will not accommodate the state
dishes, Bennett would be willing to reconstruct the tower, with state
financial assistance, to meet the state needs.
The state lease on West Twin has another two years to run. One of the
members of the family that owns the West Twin site believes current
management problems will be resolved well before then, enabling the
state to stay at the current site if they should wish to.
Talking Points for the County Commissioners:
There is no need to move: the state can meet their communication needs
by either staying on their current tower or by co-locating on Bennett
Lumber’s tower.
Staying put is the fiscally responsible thing to do: staying at the
current site or co-locating with Bennett Lumber is the most cost
effective solution for the state.
It is not just one tower: once one tower lease is permitted at the
lookout and power run to the site, many more towers will eventually be
built there.
A tower farm at the lookout will forever change East Moscow Mountain:
what is now a quiet, natural place to view the region’s beauty will
become a buzzing industrial communication site, complete with towers,
fences, buildings and roads.
Latah County should require PSC to apply for a conditional use permit:
the results of the permit proceedings will be sent to the Land Board to
advise the Board of the proposal’s compliance or non-compliance with the
Latah County Land Use Ordinance.
Contact Mark Solomon for more information: msolomon@moscow.com
Download the following articles about the Moscow Mountain Cedars Park
Proposal:
- Moscow Pullman Daily News, 8/31/06,
Latah County takes control of Moscow Mountain cedar grove
- Moscow Pullman Daily News
Editorial, 7/7/06
- Moscow Pullman Daily News Article,
7/4/06
- Moscow Pullman Daily News
Editorial, 5/1/06
- Moscow Pullman Daily News Article,
4/26/06
- Moscow Pullman Daily News Article,
3/1/06
- Moscow Pullman Daily News
Editorial, 3/3/06
- Moscow Pullman Daily News
Feature, 1/24/06
- Moscow Pullman Daily News
Feature, 1/26/06
- Moscow Pullman Daily News
Editorial, 1/28/06
- Lewiston Tribune Feature,
1/26/06
Letters to the editor can be sent to:
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President Bush Mentions Moscow Mountain
For those of you who missed it the quote below is from President Bush's
introduction of Governor Dirk Kempthorne as his next Secretary of the
Interior as
aired on NPR on 3/17/06.
"Dirk has had a long and abiding love for nature. When he and his wife
Patricia were married, they chose to hold the ceremony on top of
Idaho's Moscow Mountain. Dirk said, 'I don't think there's a more
beautiful cathedral than the outdoors'."
Good work everyone and congratulations to the Governor! The mention of
Moscow Mountain by the President is a direct reflection of the
visibility of our campaign as seen by the media. |
Photo: Roger Ames |
Save the Cedars: A Proposal for a Moscow Mountain State Park
“They are a cathedral of trees” said then U.S. Senator Dirk Kempthorne
of the ancient cedar grove on top of Moscow Mountain. He should know,
he was married there. Shortly after graduating from the University of Idaho and moving back to
Boise, Dirk and Patricia drove 300 miles of Idaho roads to be married
at the lookout on East Moscow Mountain.
He wasn’t the first and won’t be the last person to appreciate this
irreplaceable piece of Idaho’s ecological heritage. Largely spared from
disturbance by its location on top of a steep 4700’ ridge, this 269-acre
parcel of state school trust land is home to an ancient grove of western
red cedars estimated to be 1000 years old. Nurtured by the headwater
springs of Felton Creek and Hatter Creek, this stand of trees was
nominated in 1974 to be a National Natural Landmark as the best extant
example of western red cedar/larch habitat.
The Latah community has been working to protect these trees and their
surrounding habitat buffer for over 20 years. As part of the school
trust endowment, the Idaho Constitution requires the land be managed
for the maximum long term economic return to the trust – money that
helps pay for Idaho’s public schools. To avoid turning ancient cedars
into rails, posts and shakes, ten years ago The Nature Conservancy arranged a special
use lease for the land to gain time while a land exchange between the
conservancy and the state could be worked out.
It didn’t happen. The Nature Conservancy and the state were unable to
settle on an equitable exchange value for the property. In mid-January,
The Nature Conservancy sent a letter to the state saying they were not
going to renew the lease. It’s back in our hands.
A broad group of interested folks have now banded together to propose
the cedars as a new state park under now Governor Kempthorne’s “Experience
Idaho” proposal to upgrade the state park system. Please help this
coalition save the cedars. There are only two short months to pass this
proposal through the Legislature!
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Idaho Governor
Dirk Kempthorne
enjoys the outdoors.
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What needs to happen
To pass a bill requires supporters to be citizen lobbyists. There are
two important target dates: February 9 is when the Joint Finance Appropriations
Committee will hear the state parks budget proposal. February 13 is
the last day for regular bills to be submitted. To generate momentum
write, phone and email the people listed below and any other personal
contacts you may have in the legislature, parks department or the
governor’s office. Download
some sample letters (pdf, 16k).
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Photo: Roger Ames
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- Randy Rice, IDPR Board Member
1018 S Harding St
Moscow ID 83843
208-882-1938
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Get inside the Idaho Statehouse.
Photo: Elaine Johnson |
Proposed Draft Legislation
67-42….. MOSCOW MOUNTAIN STATE PARK -- CREATED -- LOCATION. Pursuant to
67-4201, the property consisting of about 295.6 acres, more or less, and
more particularly described as:S1/2 S1/2 NW1/4, SW1/2 NW1/4 SE1/4, S1/2
SE1/4, SW1/4, Section 16 Township 40 North Range 4W Boise Meridian; is
withdrawn from sale and transferred to the park and recreation board of
the department of parks and recreation of the state of Idaho. There is
hereby created on said property a state park to be known and designated
as Moscow Mountain State Park.
67-42…. CONTROL AND MANAGEMENT. The control, administration and
management of the Moscow Mountain State Park shall be vested in the
park and recreation board of the department of parks and recreation of
the state of Idaho. Management shall conform to the heretofore agreed
upon management goals for this property as stipulated in department of
lands lease # M-4011 and more fully described as: (1) to protect and
enhance the habitat, including the representative vegetation, in
particular the old growth western redcedar, and the wildlife it
supports; (2) to provide an example of old growth forest for the
education of both the general public and specific groups; (3) to
provide a scenic non-motorized recreation area for the general welfare,
use, and enjoyment of the public; and, (4) to provide opportunities for
scientific research regarding old growth forests.
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Photo: Elaine Johnson
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67-42… CITIZENS ADVISORY GROUP –- ESTABLISHED –- MEMBERSHIP. A citizens
advisory group is established to advise the department of parks and
recreation on the implementation of management policies at Moscow
Mountain State Park. Membership shall include (1) one representative of
Latah County, (1) representative of the conservation social sciences
department of the University of Idaho college of natural resources or
its successor, (1) representative of the University of Idaho
experimental forest, (1) adjoining landowner, and (3) three members of
the general public.
FISCAL IMPACT
$1.5 million to be appropriated from the Permanent Building Fund and
paid to the school trust endowment fund. (this is an approximate cost
pending confirmation of appraised value from department of lands)
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For more information
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Groups interested in the park designation
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Photo: Brenda Guettler
Here is one cedar picture that I took a couple of years ago. That's my
mom in the picture. It was a
cold misty day and the cedars were especially magical as day turned to
dusk and the fog surrounded us.
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