Panel passes Plateau motion

Wilder withdraws opposition to $82 million preservation plan

By TOM HUMPHREY, KnoxNews.com
June 9, 2007

NASHVILLE - An attempt to block an $82 million state payment toward preserving 125,000 acres of the Cumberland Plateau was rejected Friday by the Senate Finance Committee.

One after the other, members of the panel declared their support for the Plateau preservation plan - including some who had voiced misgivings in earlier meetings.

After listening to the round of rhetoric, former Lt. Gov. John Wilder, D-Somerville, abandoned his attempt to strip the $82 million in funding from Gov. Phil Bredesen's state budget proposal for the coming fiscal year.

"I understand the votes are not here," Wilder said in withdrawing the amendment he had filed against the project.

But Wilder said he still believes the state has no business being involved in the complex deal, which involves purchase of some land outright and purchase of timber rights or conservation easements on other portions of land in Anderson, Campbell and Morgan counties.

"I do not think that's the Senate's business or the state's business. Our business is education, roads and health," said Wilder. "I'm for parks, but that's too much (land and money)."

Wilder also had filed a motion to strip $60 million in funding for a pilot project to convert switchgrass into ethanol, with $40 million going to build a plant in the Oak Ridge area. But he wound up withdrawing that amendment without discussion.

In earlier hearings on the proposal, pushed by Bredesen, senators had offered supportive comments to Wilder while peppering officials of the state Department of Environment and Conservation with critical questions - some that the officials initially were unable to answer.

It appeared that a major factor in changing the tone of legislator commentary came when Scott Davis, state director of The Nature Conservancy, made what Sen. Douglas Henry, D-Nashville, called "a compelling case" for approval of the preservation plan. Sen. Mark Norris, R-Collierville, also cited Davis' presentation.

Davis told the panel that about 5 million acres of Tennessee forestland, previously held by major timber companies and paper companies, has been sold in recent years to timber investment management organizations.

The TIMOs, in turn, typically cut trees off the land, then carve it up into smaller parcels and sell it to others, he said.

The Cumberland Plateau property in question - in particular, a 10,000-acre tract adjoining Frozen Head State Natural Area - faces a similar fate unless the deal goes through, Davis said.

The Nature Conservancy is providing $14 million for the deal, and another $52 million will come from Lyme Timber Co. and partners, creating a $142 million package when combined with the state money.

Lyme will have the right to cut timber on some portions of the land for 10 years - subject to stricter guidelines than the standards employed by those who now hold timber rights.

The effect, Davis said, is to protect the local economy - both by having lumber operations continue and by promoting tourism with public access to a large swath of land - while assuring the property that benefits wildlife and protects aesthetics is preserved.

"In 10 years, it's going to look cheap - real cheap," said Davis. "This works biologically and economically."

In the senators' speechmaking, Sen. Jim Kyle, D-Memphis, quoted humorist Will Rogers as saying, "You ought to buy land because they're not making it anymore."

Norris cited President Theodore Roosevelt as a conservationist who "for conservatives, provides comfort at times like this." He noted Roosevelt launched the national park system.

"This is comparable to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park," said Norris, estimating the Plateau tracts will collectively be about a third the size of the Smokies. "They are balancing the needs of man with the needs of nature."

Sen. Raymond Finney, R-Maryville, said he supports the plan for his grandchildren.

"I want them to be able to see trees and running streams," said Finney. "I just wish we had twice this much money to spend."

Sen. Tim Burchett, R-Knoxville, had "seconded" Wilder's motion to scrap the project at the outset of Friday's meeting. But the senator said later that he did so only to allow a full discussion and, at the end of the debate, withdrew his "second" motion.