Cumberland land deal may be in trouble

By John Rodgers, NashvilleCityPaper.com
June 7, 2007

Gov. Phil Bredesen’s proposal to spend $82 million to buy 125,000 acres on the North Cumberland Plateau has started to face strong opposition from some Senators and is in danger of not being implemented.

The land is 125,000 acres in Anderson, Campbell, Morgan and Scott counties in East Tennessee. It would stretch from the Frozen Head State Natural Area to the Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area, northwest of Knoxville.

Bredesen put the proposal to buy the land on the Cumberland Plateau on the table in February when he unveiled his state budget. But it has received little public discussion.

This week, however, as the Senate tried to wrestle with passing a state budget, the proposal came under fire from both Democrats and Republicans with questions about why the state needed the land and who would have the timber and mineral rights.

Sen. John Wilder (D-Mason), the former longtime Senate speaker and lieutenant governor, said he “may have” filed an amendment to the state budget to eliminate the funding for the land acquisition.

“Wilder doesn’t think the state ought to buy this much land,” Wilder said, referring to himself in the third person, during a recent hearing on the matter. “That’s just Wilder.”

State Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz said Wilder had filed such an amendment and he was “concerned” about the eroding support for the land deal.

“It’s obviously kind of become an issue here,” Goetz said. “It’s always been one under the radar.”

Senate Democratic Leader Jim Kyle (D-Memphis), who shepherds most of the administration’s legislation through the Senate, questioned Bredesen administration officials during a hearing Tuesday about why the state needed to buy this particular piece of land.

“I’m really glad that the folks from Knoxville can get in their car and drive about an hour and have fun on this land, you know what I mean. Go hunting or just enjoy the land,” Kyle said during a hearing. “Now, I’m really not sure how many folks from Shelby County hang out in Morgan County. The only ones who do are there against their will.”

Kyle was referencing a state prison in Morgan County.

Senate Republican Leader Mark Norris (R-Collierville) is in favor of spending the $82 million, calling it a “rare opportunity” to buy the land, which he compared to the Great Smoky Mountains.

But Norris said the proposal to buy the land is facing “strong opposition.”

“It’s in a little bit of trouble,” Norris said.

Sen. Tim Burchett (R-Knoxville) is against the state buying the land, saying he has concerns about the timber and mineral rights on the acreage.

“In the end, the liabilities can’t be greater than the benefits,” Burchett said, saying he’s not sure of the “tourist draw” to a “bald hill.”

Dana Coleman, a spokeswoman with the Department of Environment and Conservation, said the Bredesen administration does not “feel like the project is in jeopardy.”

“We believe that once people have more information and have their questions answered that they will be satisfied and see the merits of this,” Coleman said.

A Senate subcommittee is scheduled to take up the issue again today.

The land deal is a complicated transaction that has the state spending $82 million on the $148 million land piece.

A timber company, The Lyme Timber Company, as well as some other partners will put in $52 million and The Nature Conservancy will contribute $14 million.

The money will buy public access onto all of the 125,000 acres.

The land is essentially divided into three tracts.

The state already owns the 75,000 acres in the Sundquist Wildlife Management Area in Anderson and Campbell counties, but it does not own the timber rights. The state would spend $31 million on the timber rights, which it would lease back for 10 years to Lyme Timber Co. Public recreation activities will include hunting, fishing and all terrain vehicles.

The Emory River tract in Morgan County, which would be 23,000 acres, 10,000 of which the state would own the timber and mineral rights to and 13,000 of which there would be a “working forest easement” for some timber harvesting. The public activities permitted on the property would include hiking, biking and horseback riding.

The Brimstone tract in Scott County would be 27,000 acres which would also have an easement for timber rights. The public activities would include hiking, biking, horseback riding and hunting and fishing.