BOISE, Idaho (AP) — State officials on Tuesday approved harvesting 247 million board feet of timber from state land in 2017 as part of a 50-year-plan to reduce the inventory of harvestable timber from more than 7 billion board feet to 5 billion.

The Idaho Land Board also voted 4-0 to start a process to buy about 2,400 acres of additional forest land that would be the first use of money brought in from the sale of cottage sites. Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter and other board members also approved selecting real estate brokerage company Thornton Oliver Keller to sell 11 commercial properties worth about $25 million.

The board also approved trading 280 acres of endowment land with limited access for 238 acres of private land adjacent to other state land. Each of the parcels is valued at about $200,000.

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