Specifically, the rule was this: if the government failed to buy property within three years of a sale offer from an owner, the property would revert to less-restrictive General Management Area status, which allows a greater variety of agricultural and rural recreational development on smaller parcels.

In November the U.S. Forest Service sent out the obligatory fair warning notices to 725 property owners that the law was expiring. Some 182 of those landowners apparently opened the mailing, because that's how many made their sale offer before March 30.

As a result, the Forest Service now has three years to buy their combined 6,700 acres of privately owned land or allow for a broader tnage of development. The Forest Service is now preparing a draft analysis of the land the it hopes to have ready for public review in 90 days. After that, the agency will begin writing offers for those properties it considers to be at the greatest risk for development.

The Forest Service already has about $5.5 million for the purchases that it appropriated from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. It also has requested a similar amount be placed in next year's federal budget.

The agency will give priority to properties that contain cultural resources or habitat for rare plants and animals, as well as properties that can be subdivided for housing or have river access or other characteristics that would give it potential for recreational development.

As for those that missed the deadline, they can still offer their property for sale to the government, but if it isn't accepted, they are stuck with the more restrictive Special Management Area zoning, which requires that all new dwellings be on 40 acres or more and house people actively engaged in farming. The General Management Area rules allow for development on parcels smaller than 20 acres, and on parcels created before Nov. 17, 1986, dwellings not relates to farming are allowed.