Count among the more unexpected recent Idaho political developments a proposal from Nampa Republican State Senator Ben Adams to amend Idaho’s state Constitution to create a new land trust, which would manage but not sell any lands the state receives — buys, is gifted or whatever — from the federal government.

The idea appears to be an indirect response to a federal plan earlier this year from Utah Senator Mike Lee, who proposed that millions of acres of federal lands be sold to the top bidder. “The idea of selling public land really didn’t sit well with me,” Adams said in one interview. And he said that the new trust, unlike the long-standing state endowment lands program (in which the state received lands from the federal government), would have strict limitations on land sales and use.

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