A proposal by the Bush administration to sell more than 300,000 acres of national forest land has raised the ire of Utah environmentalists, who say the plan is "fundamentally, a disturbing concept."

The land-sale proposal is part of the president's trillion-dollar budget, released Monday, but details weren't given until Friday, when it was learned that 5,398 acres in Utah could be sold to private groups, perhaps for development.

Forest Service officials told the Associated Press that the land sales are needed to raise money for schools and roads in rural counties. The goal is to raise an estimated $800 million over the next five years, according to the Forest Service.

A separate Bureau of Land Management plan to sell land could net $250 million over the next five years.

Lawson LeGate, senior Southwest representative of the Sierra Club, said Bush's plan would "almost certainly" mean that public lands will find a way into the hands of developers.

"All we ask is whether this really is the best use for these lands," LeGate said. "A lot of the places in Utah that are in the Forest Service proposal are places where Utah families hunt and fish and picnic, and if the land passes into private hands, they won't be able to enjoy those activities on those particular lands.

"The best use for revenues really should be for conservation purposes, to protect lands. In general, we are very concerned about the cumulative impact of sale proposals across the country."

But Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, who directs forest policy, said the parcels to be sold are isolated, expensive to manage or no longer meet the needs of the national forest system. Only about 200,000 of the 300,000 acres are expected to be sold to meet goals to fund schools, he said.

The Forest Service administers 193 million acres of national forest lands.

"These are not the crown jewels we are taking about," Ray said. "This is a reasonable proposal to take a small fraction of a percentage of national land that is the least necessary and use it for those in need and achieve an overarching public purpose."

The money would go to assist states "impacted by the loss of receipts associated with lower timber harvests on federal lands," according to a statement by the USDA.

A spokesperson for the Forest Service in Utah couldn't be reached for comment late Friday, but a list of lands available for sale across the country is available on the Forest Service Web site: www.fs.fed.us/.

In Utah, property is for sale in counties such as Cache and Weber. And while supporters argue the parcels will be small and insignificant, the Sierra Club and other environmental groups maintain the proposal is a wrong use of public resources.

"I think it's fundamentally a disturbing concept that our public lands can be put on the auction block," said LeGate. "I think that fundamentally runs contrary to the wishes of the American people, especially in the West. We'd like to know those lands are there for us and our families to enjoy for a wide variety of recreation, and indeed, spiritual benefits."

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Contributing: Associated Press

E-mail: nwarburton@desnews.com