WASHINGTON - Gov. Mike Easley said Tuesday that he does not want the federal government to sell nearly 10,000 acres of national forest in North Carolina, even if the money raised would go to education.

"We don't like it," Easley said Tuesday in a brief moment with reporters at the National Governors Association meeting in Washington. "We're hoping to acquire more [land] at every opportunity."

Although the governor has used conservation money in the past to plug holes in the state budget, he has pushed recently for increased conservation efforts.

On Tuesday, the Bush administration released details of its proposal to sell about 300,000 acres of federal land across the country. In North Carolina, the proposal includes 9,828 acres scattered across the state's four national forests -- Nantahala and Pisgah in the mountains, Uwharrie in the central part of the state and Croatan on the coast.

The release Tuesday launches a 30-day public comment period on the proposal.

The $800 million raised nationally through the sales would fund the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act. The six-year-old act was created to help rural counties make up for the decline in revenue from timber harvests. The money would pay for the program for another five years, and then it would be phased out.

Weighing pros, cons

Rural school leaders are torn about the proposal.

"On a personal level, I get a little wary of us selling off federal land to private individuals," said Dave Ackerman, chairman of the Cherokee County school board. Ackerman, a veterinarian, said he was drawn to the mountains 15 years ago for their natural beauty.

But, he said, the district could use all the funding it can get. The district has about 3,700 students.

Ackerman wasn't sure how much money is at stake for Cherokee, but even $75,000 would pay for a couple of teachers for a year -- or buy a lot of computers, books or other school supplies, he said.

Mark Rey, U.S. undersecretary of natural resources and environment, told a Senate committee Tuesday that the chosen parcels would not hurt the National Forest System's health if sold.

Many of the lands are isolated, making them difficult and expensive to manage, Rey said. And once the lands become private property, they will be added to county tax rolls, he said.

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, a Republican from Winston-Salem, sits on the committee but did not attend the hearing. His spokesman said Burr is reviewing the proposal.

Approval for the forest land sale must go through Congress.

In Tennessee, nearly 3,000 acres of the Cherokee National Forest on the border with North Carolina are potentially on the block. Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen has said that he strongly opposes any sale and would lobby Congress against it.

Easley sat next to Bredesen during some sessions of the four-day National Governors Association winter meeting this week. But Easley said the two had not discussed the issue.

Easley said his office is working on a plan to oppose the sale, though he did not give details.

Environmental groups are working against the proposal.

David W. Carr Jr., a senior attorney and forestry project leader for the Southern Environmental Law Center, said he worries about any land being sold. But he said some of the North Carolina tracts are especially worrisome.

More than 100 acres, for example, lie along the Tuskegee River west of Bryson City in Swain County. Any land on a river ought to be preserved because of its delicate ecosystem, Carr said.

Other land in Madison County falls in the sight lines of Bald Mountain, meaning tourists on the mountain would have views interrupted by any development, Carr said.

He said his group usually would push for a land swap rather than a sale.

Carr also criticized the payout of rural schools money.

North Carolina is budgeted to receive only about $1 million in the current fiscal year, he said, even though the state is being asked to sell nearly as many acres as, say, Oregon, which receives $162.8 million.

(Michael Doyle of The News & Observer's Washington bureau contributed to this report.)