Karen Maidlow’s office responded this morning with what appears to be a form letter regarding the proposed lease of a parcel next to the Yellow Dog River for mineral exploration by Lundin Mining.

The letter I sent last week urged Maidlow to look into Fisheries’ sudden — and perplexing — reversal of Kelley Smith’s 2003 “non-development” classification of the parcel.

In 2003, Smith deliberately reversed a 2002 “development” recommendation by Fisheries field staff. Why? Madison of Fisheries said he must have done it “for some reason” and Stampfly of Forestry was “at a loss” to account for it. Maidlow realizes she can’t ignore Smith, so she puts him in his place: “Mr. Smith was not part of the review process, only the approval process”; the former Fisheries Chief was reversed “on the basis of the most recent field review.” The field wins out over the office. The bureaucracy repudiates the bureaucrat. Fisheries’ recent reversal of Smith will likely be upheld.

Here is the salient paragraph:

On November 21, 2002, field staff reviewed the parcel under consideration here for a direct metallic mineral lease request from Prime Meridian Resources, Inc. (Prime). Field staff’s recommended parcel classification was development. Although the parcel did not contain water or aquatic resources, its classification was changed to nondevelopment on August 21, 2003 at the request of Mr. Kelly Smith, former DNR Fisheries Division Chief, as a condition of lease approval. Please note that Mr. Smith was not part of the review process, only the approval process. On the basis of the most recent field review, the proposed classification for this parcel is Leasable Development with Restriction. This means that the sub-surface minerals can be mined, subject to other regulatory review, and any proposed development on the surface would face further review by DNR staff before being permitted.

I’m afraid this already sounds like a done deal, even though nobody at DNR seems to know — or is willing to discuss — why Smith wanted to protect Parcel NE1/4 SE1/4, Section 13, T50N, R29W on the Yellow Dog Plains from industrial development.