FOREST FOR SALE

More than 21,500 acres of the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri will be sold to pay for rural schools.

That's according to the Bush Administration; it announced the proposed sale of 175,000 acres in 34 states, with Missouri being one of four states selling more than 20,000 acres.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports:

Without the sales, many “counties would not receive support for rural schools,” Mark Rey, a U.S. Agriculture Department undersecretary, told reporters in a telephone news conference today.

Maps showing the exact location of the land will be published later this month and the public will have 30 days from that point to offer comments.

Rey said Congress would need to back the sale by agreeing that the proposed tracts of land – in Missouri ranging from 40 to 250 acres – "no longer meet national forest system needs or are too expensive to manage."

We'll keep eyeballs open for that map. It's not often that you get the chance to buy a forest.