The Forest Service Can’t See the Trees for the Price

Nearly seven decades ago, Charles Krause settled into a cliff-top cabin overlooking a trout stream in a swath of forested canyon land he had purchased just north of Lake Arrowhead.

Today, the 91-year-old retired stock trader wants to sell the property to the U.S. Forest Service so “everyone can enjoy it as I have all these years.”

The agency wants to buy it. But after nearly two years of talking, it has yet to finish basic survey and appraisal work on the 163 acres Krause believes are worth about $1.5 million.

Leaning back in a worn couch beside his rock-and-mortar fireplace, Krause said, “At my age, I can’t wait much longer. It has got to go this summer. If the Forest Service won’t take it, my next step is to advertise in Hollywood. After all, this would make beautiful estate property.”

Krause’s parcel is among several in the San Bernardino National Forest targeted years ago for acquisition by the Forest Service but which have yet to transfer into public hands. Others include Moon Camp, the last stretch of undeveloped private land on the north shore of Big Bear Lake, and thousands of acres of wilderness the agency would receive in return for swapping land in Yucaipa needed to complete Wildwood Canyon State Park.

Forest Service officials said that they are overwhelmed by other more pressing matters, including drought and a bark beetle infestation that has killed more than a million trees and created a potentially catastrophic fire hazard. They also say that they are understaffed and freighted with investigative requirements that make it harder than ever to compete for property in a region where choice open space is scarce and real estate values are soaring.

For example, federal regulations prohibit the Forest Service, which does not have its own surveyors or real estate specialists, from offering more than fair market value for land, or bidding on it.

While the Forest Service deals with all of that, developers and real estate agents are waiting, ready to pounce on the properties.

“If we had more adequate staffing, I’m sure we could get more done,” said Doug Pumphrey, the Forest Service’s director of land, water and minerals in the San Bernardino National Forest. “Then, too, we have to deal with a multilayered federal bureaucracy, which takes time.”

Beyond that, San Bernardino National Forest Supervisor Gene Zimmerman said, “We’ve done all the easy acquisitions; the ones we have left are complex or controversial.

“Acquiring these properties remains a high priority; it’s legacy work for future generations,” he said. “To lose them would be a dark day.”

Zimmerman pointed out that the Forest Service continues to acquire other significant parcels in the San Bernardino Mountains and across the state. In fact, the Forest Service wants to purchase land in just about every one of its regions. Officials said the service has acquired at least 6,000 acres in the San Bernardino Mountains over the last 14 years.

Urgent Problems

But most Forest Service regions do not face as many urgent problems as the heavily populated San Bernardino National Forest, where some of its highest-priority acquisitions remain in jeopardy.

Redlands developer Pat Meyer said there is a “50-50 chance” the Forest Service will “lose an opportunity” to acquire the 65-acre Moon Camp property on the north shore of Big Bear Lake, which the agency has coveted for more than six years.

Meyer has submitted a proposal to the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors to develop 90 half-million-dollar homes on the property, which includes docking rights along its 1,800 feet of shoreline. Meyer expects to have an environmental review on the plan completed within 30 days.

Standing over a colored rendering of the proposed development, Meyer said: “We’ve told the Forest Service, ‘Please don’t wait until there’s a shovel in the ground.’ But they have done nothing.”

“The longer the Forest Service takes to move on this property, the farther away it gets from acquiring it, because land values are increasing exponentially,” Meyer said. “We wish they would just step up to the plate, pay fair market value and be done with it.”

Many residents in the neighboring community of Fawnskin want nothing more than to see that land under federal control.

“We want future generations to see that lake as it is now rather than with a gated community that locks out the public,” said Beverly Hills attorney Roman Silberfeld, a member of Friends of Fawnskin, an advocacy group. “Our concerns could be used by the federal government as leverage.”

As time has passed, the land’s value has skyrocketed. About six years ago, Meyer said, the property, regarded as bald eagle habitat, was offered to the government for $2 million. Today, he said, “it’s worth at least $10 million,” which is far more than the Forest Service’s entire annual budget for land acquisition in the San Bernardino National Forest.

Similar problems have stymied Frank Sisson’s efforts to persuade the Forest Service to swap a few thousand acres of foothills abutting Wildwood Canyon State Park for twice as much wilderness land deep in the San Bernardino Mountains.

Sisson, among those shepherding the park’s creation, has tried to expedite the trade by raising more than $100,000 for appraisals and mineral, wildlife, archeological and boundary line surveys typically paid for by the Forest Service.

Recently, as his pickup lurched up a steep slope bordering a Wildwood Canyon State Park valley studded with oak trees, Sisson said: “We did all the studies and paperwork for them. All they have to do is sign their names on it. We’ve heard nothing but excuses.”

Washington Go-Ahead

The next day, Sisson finally received a call from forest supervisor Zimmerman. Agency officials in Washington had reviewed the proposed land exchange and agreed to start assembling the documents to complete the transaction.

Krause hopes he doesn’t have to wait much longer to sell the lush and scenic canyon he bought as a secluded getaway during the Great Depression. His frustration has become a rallying cry for local critics of the Forest Service.

“This deal is not complicated. It’s not a clouded title, and Krause is happy to sell it to them,” said biologist Kevin Kellums, a local environmental activist. “In an ideal world, it could be completed within 30 days.”

Forest Service officials say they have been working as diligently as possible given their other responsibilities.

It’s not just a business issue. Organizations such as the Lake Arrowhead Communities Chamber of Commerce have urged the Forest Service to put the land in the national trust as part of an effort to provide a larger fire safety buffer for nearby mountain communities.

“Land acquisitions like this one are a significant step toward long-range fire safety in the mountains,” said Peter Jorris, a founder of the Mountain Rim Fire Safe Council. “There are too many structures in this forest already. We have to start curtailing development.”

Krause would not go that far.

But standing on his patio and surveying the canyon below, he said: “When I was a young man, I used to hike to the bottom. This place hasn’t changed one bit since then. I’d hate to see buildings going up all over it.”