A group of southern Shoshone County residents wants to overturn a controversial land swap.

Forty-seven residents signed a petition requesting an investigation. The group wants the land swap to be declared null and void. The petition was sent to the Shoshone County Commission and the state attorney general.

On Dec. 31, the commission voted to approve the swap 2-1 with Commissioner Larry Yergler dissenting. Outgoing Commissioners Vince Rinaldi and Jon Cantamessa voted to approve the deal, which transferred 40 acres of land to Jack Buell in exchange for another 40 acres.

St. Joe River Valley residents came to a Dec. 24 meeting with the then-commissioners to request that the land swap be postponed.

The 40-acre swap included a former county dump, half-acre in size, surrounded by land owned by Buell located east of Calder. That land was swapped for what the petitioners say is steep logged-over land that is unusable and fairly inaccessible.

Buell owns a logging company in St. Maries.

The county resolution that authorized the land swap refers to the land formerly owned by Buell as "timbered."

However in a letter to the St. Maries Gazette Record, Calder resident Patrice Pfeiffer said the "timbered land has already been logged, and is almost virtual mountainside, making subsequent logging a very costly undertaking.

"Our only hope now," Pfeiffer concluded, "is that Jack Buell will be true to his word and allow us to continue to recreate on this land as we have for decades."

Commissioner Leslee Stanley also attended the Dec. 24 meeting, which occurred prior to her being sworn-in on Jan. 14. On Friday, Stanley said she doesn't believe there's anything the current commission can do about it. "I requested they hold off any decision," she said.

The petitioners believe the value of the former county land is worth more than the land it was traded for.

In addition to the dump - which the county says was properly covered and closed - the swapped land contains a rock pit that the petitioners believe can still be used as a source of rock or gravel.

The area has been used by residents for picnicking - it has picnic benches - sledding, mushroom hunting, and as a shooting range. The swapped land was used for decades for year-round recreation, the petitioners say.

Yergler voted against the swap because he said he needed more time to get a better appraisal of the properties involved, according to the Dec. 31 meeting's minutes.

Rinaldi believes the swap potentially could relieve the taxpayers of liability for the dump if a cleanup is required in the future.

The petitioners allege that Cantamessa is a long-time personal friend of Buell, a longtime Benewah County commissioner who contributed $700 to Cantamessa's unsuccessful state Senate campaign in 2012. The petitioners believe this represents a conflict of interest, and that Cantamessa should have abstained from the vote.

The petitioners also argue that the two parcels of land do not have equal value.