Seven years ago, Catawba residents united against a proposed public-private land swap on North Mountain. That deal fell through, but the residents are organizing again to protest the possible sale of the same national forest parcel.

They worry the sale, which is part of a Bush administration proposal, would set a precedent for selling off America's public lands and threaten Catawba's rural heritage by replacing a pristine mountainside with a high-priced housing development.

"I think the general consensus is it could open a [Pandora's] box," said Mark Brewer, co-owner of the Catawba Valley General Store. "It's the public's land, not his [President Bush's] to sell in the first place."

The Bush administration last month proposed selling 309,000 acres of public lands nationwide to generate more than $1 billion over five years for rural communities hurt by logging cutbacks.

Catawba residents are concerned about a 121-acre parcel along Virginia 311 below North Mountain in Roanoke County.

The parcel's gentle slope could be a prime site for a subdivision, but some Catawba residents say development would cut down trees, ruin scenic views, drive off wildlife, cause erosion from storm water and increase traffic.

The Catawba Valley Civic League plans to discuss the issue at its meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at the Catawba Community Center.

Residents are protective of North Mountain, which serves as a symbolic buffer against the kind of development pressure that is taking over forest and farm land in other parts of the Roanoke and New River valleys.

"When people who live here come over that [North] mountain, they feel they're home," said Carol Reynolds, co-owner of the Catawba Valley General Store. "They like to leave all the development on the other side of the mountain. I'm a business owner and we need some growth and development, but not at a cost to our grandkids."

The North Mountain site generated controversy in 1998, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and a private landowner discussed exchanging some of his steep, wooded land near the mountain's summit for the national forest land close to Virginia 311.

The exchange would have expanded a tract of consolidated national forest land while disposing of a parcel surrounded by private land that isn't open to the public.

The private landowner -- David Turner of Florida, who owns 500 acres on the middle and upper parts of North Mountain -- said he wanted to swap his land for the 121-acre national forest tract along Virginia 311 below the mountain, to build a few homes for his family and establish a private hunting reserve. But Catawba residents worried he would build a large subdivision.

The proposed swap fell through in 1999 when the Forest Service and Turner couldn't agree on land value. But last month, Turner brought plans to the Roanoke County Planning Commission for a subdivision called Choice Pointe. Its first phase would put 13 houses on about 25 of the 500 acres he owns on North Mountain.

The Forest Service said it would continue to look for ways to dispose of the 121-acre tract, which is on the agency's list of parcels it says are more suitable for trade or sale than public management.

The Forest Service says those lands are isolated, costly to manage and have little natural, historical, cultural or timber harvesting value.

The Bush administration's land sale proposal includes 5,717 acres of the 1.8 million acres in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests.

Congress will start debating the proposal after a 30-day public comment period ends March 30.

Wayne Johnson, an engineering and lands staff officer with the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, said that selling or trading isolated tracts would let the Forest Service focus on more ecologically and environmentally valuable parts of the forest.

But he said Catawba residents have a valid concern about the North Mountain site's future. He encouraged them to make their opinions known to the Forest Service's headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Local governments, states and land trusts acting on the governments' behalf would have first crack at buying the land at market value.

Elmer Hodge, Roanoke County administrator, said he would recommend to the board of supervisors at their Tuesday meeting that they send a strong resolution to federal legislators urging them to keep the land in the national forest.

Hodge said that if the land goes on the auction block, he would encourage supervisors to buy it, or help the Western Virginia Land Trust buy it, and keep it undeveloped.

Roanoke County's comprehensive land-use plan doesn't envision extensive development in the Catawba Valley for a long time.

"Public lands are set up for the public itself," said Ken Crawley, co-owner of the Catawba Grocery.

Mickey Garman, a retired cattle rancher, said Bush is "off his head" for trying to sell public lands.

Del Eyer and others support the reauthorization of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act, which would be partially funded by the land sale proposal. But they said funding for rural counties should come from more logging, lottery proceeds and other sources, not selling public lands for short-term cash.

"They're not making land anymore," Eyer said.

Larry Hunt and A.W. Webb are neighbors whose properties back up to the national forest land that might be sold.

They said a housing development would hurt their property values and the quality of life for all Catawba residents. They disputed the Forest Service's claim that the North Mountain land had little value and was hard to manage.

Hunt and Webb said many Catawba residents distrust the Forest Service because of its handling of the 1998 proposed land swap, which they said the agency tried to ramrod through.

"You're not supposed to trust the government," Hunt said. "You're supposed to watch it, and that's what we're going to do."

Staff writer Tim Thornton contributed to this report.