Dear HCN,
The opinion expressed by
Ted Williams on a “Fallen Forester” (HCN, 12/21/98) is not shared
by those who are familiar with federal land exchanges in Nevada.
What Mr. Williams didn’t say was, while Jim Nelson was “hustling
around the countryside cutting land deals, adding 100,000 acres to
the forest,” the taxpayers were losing over $100 million by
wheeling and dealing government resource managers such as Jim
Nelson.
The reservoir of high-value BLM
subdivision land in the Las Vegas Valley has been viewed by
resource managers in recent years as an unlimited slush fund to do
as they pleased in “cutting land deals’ while flouting the
appraisal process and the meaning of fair market value. Serious
problems with Nevada exchange appraisals did not originate with the
Deer Creek exchange. Nor was Phil Tittman, chief Forest Service
appraiser, the first to identify such problems. The whistle was
being blown on these appraisals for several years prior, but was
sounding on deaf ears. Government exchange files (open to public
examination) are full of identified appraisal
problems.
Ted Williams should have commended, not
chastised, Paul Tittman for his professionalism in the Deer Creek
exchange. Tittman, in his 4/4/96 memorandum, was making the Forest
Service lands director aware of a mini-Teapot Dome scandal. After
all, that is what he (Tittman) is being paid for. Both Mr. Williams
and Mr. Nelson have a lot to learn about appraisals. The continuing
criminal investigation of the Deer Creek and other exchanges in
Nevada may enlighten not only the public on this matter, but Mr.
Nelson and others involved in these
exchanges.
Charles E.
Hancock
Reno,
Nevada
The writer is a retired
chief appraiser for the Bureau of Land Management in
Nevada.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Forester should have fallen.
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