Wilderness News

Rep. Mike Simpson bent over backwards this week to get his long-pending Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act passed by the House of Representatives.

Rep. Mike Simpson's Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act always has involved a series of political trade-offs.

Most Idahoans, for instance, disliked trading away small amounts of land within the Sawtooth National Recreation Area but tolerated it to protect 319,000 acres of Boulder-White Cloud wilderness.

On a recent tour of the Chestnut Ridge area of Allegheny National Forest, one thing that was loud and clear was the silence and solitude.

A drive around the boundaries of 5,000 acres of lush forest land near Route 321 in McKean County revealed an unbroken canopy created, in part, by stands of the beloved and rare American chestnut tree.

All signs of civilization were gone from the remote area except for one thing. On various sections of the acreage, orange plastic survey flags were seen tied around trees marking sites for potential oil and gas development.

The bench above and north of Stanley would have been given to Custer County under provisions set forth in the Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act. The 86-acre land gift is among several large changes announced by the bill's architect, Congressman Mike Simpson. Photo by Greg Stahl 

The architect of the Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act announced significant changes Sunday morning to the legislation that would designate 318,765 acres of the Boulder and White Cloud mountains as congressionally mandated wilderness.

Last year, U.S. District Judge Bruce Jenkins told the county: No, you cannot lay claim to any trail or roadway through federal land simply by telling the Bureau of Land Management you have a right of way.

Still, Kane County refused to remove its road signs encouraging off-highway vehicle use on trails in the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument and other public land where the BLM had prohibited OHVs in order to protect fragile areas. The county claimed to own the "roads," some of which are little more than cowpaths, but had failed to prove those claims.

On a recent tour of the Chestnut Ridge area of Allegheny National Forest, one thing that was loud and clear was the silence and solitude.

A drive around the boundaries of 5,000 acres of lush forest land near Route 321 in McKean County revealed an unbroken canopy created, in part, by stands of the beloved and rare American chestnut tree.

All signs of civilization were gone from the remote area except for one thing. On various sections of the acreage, orange plastic survey flags were seen tied around trees marking sites for potential oil and gas development.

U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson is trying to jump-start a new central Idaho wilderness proposal in Congress by dropping provisions opposed by the House Democratic majority and some environmental groups.

After four years of careful negotiations, a deal to buy out cattle grazing leases on Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument land is not longer the win-win solution it once appeared. But what remains of the agreement may be the best anyone can hope for.

In the beginning, it seemed ranchers holding grazing permits with the Bureau of Land Management stood to receive $500 per animal unit month - enough forage to feed a cow and calf for a month. The federal government would put up $300 per AUM, environmental organizations $200.

Energy development in the Rocky Mountains represents the most urgent threat to the region's wildlife, panelists said Friday at a workshop during the annual National Wildlife Federation meeting at Keystone.

Conservation advocates explained that they are trying to work both at the national and state levels to stem the tide habitat fragmentation and degradation resulting from widespread oil and gas extraction.

Colorado Fifth District U.S. Representative Joel Hefley, who served 20 years in Congress, introduced a Browns Canyon Wilderness Bill in 2006. This bill would have protected 20,000 acres of low elevation big game habitat on Forest Service and BLM lands along the Arkansas River north of Salida, and was supported by the entire Colorado Congressional delegation. It also had overwhelming support from local citizens, businesses, hunters, anglers, and county commissioners, among others.