Wilderness News

Now that two Idaho wilderness bills are officially dead for the year, the Republicans behind the proposals are planning how to get ideas crafted during the Bush era to pass through a Democratic Congress and White House.

Almost unnoticed in the election results was some very good news for the environment - and for land preservation in particular. Despite the financial crisis, voters made it clear that they want to increase spending on preserving open land, even at the cost of higher taxes.

Across the nation, voters approved $7.3 billion in new spending for parks and open-space preservation. Sixty-two of the 87 referendums to acquire or otherwise protect open space were approved. And the support came in rural, Republican areas, as well as in those that lean toward the Democrats.

Chances have dimmed that an omnibus package of more than 150 public lands, water and resources bills will be approved this week.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) had said before Congress adjourned for the elections that the Senate would take up the package during the lame-duck session. But with lawmakers focused on efforts to address the country's economic woes, it appears unlikely they will have time to address the omnibus measure.

An Oregon wilderness bill is stopped dead in Congress yet again.

This is getting old, watching them lug an Oregon wilderness bill up to the Hill for the umpteenth time, only to discover yet again that it's a false summit, that Congress can't get it done, that a cranky Oklahoma senator objects, that it's dead. This is a helluva way to save a natural treasure.

With Congress scheduled to return for a lame-duck session beginning this week, the top priority will clearly be the economy. A new stimulus package will be on the agenda, along with extending unemployment benefits. A bailout bill for the Big Three auto makers may also come up, although congressional leaders said late last week they didn't appear to have enough votes to get such a bill passed.

Also, a handful of lawmakers, Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar among them, are still hoping Congress will find time to vote on an omnibus public-lands package.

I read with interest two articles in Wednesday's issue of the Las Vegas Sun. One was about the Gold Butte wilderness bill that Congresswoman Shelley Berkley introduced and the other was about the illegal grazing of cattle on BLM land in the Gold Butte area.

Because of my concern for the environment, I joined the Nevada Wilderness Project. I've hiked in the Gold Butte area myself as well.

I have seen great beauty at Gold Butte - rock formations, plants and petroglyphs.

I would like to respond to Edith Heyward's letter, "Solace comes in knowing it is there," of Nov. 6, and add my "yes, way to go" support. The Wyoming congressional delegation has the opportunity to break the deadlock on Wyoming wilderness by introducing a bill to add the Rock Creek area of the Bighorn National Forest (BFN) to our wilderness system.

 I saw loggers, snowmobilers, outfitters, wilderness lovers and timber business representatives gather to support a unique legislative proposal. The Blackfoot-Clearwater Stewardship Project brought together these groups to hammer out a land plan that could work for everyone.

I shouldn't be surprised. It was very apparent that they had come together for a common purpose: to save Montana's forests, or at least one small portion.

An omnibus package of more than 150 public lands, water and resources bills will not come up during this week's lame-duck session, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said today, citing a lack of time to defeat one senator's delaying tactics.

"We the people of Montana, grateful to God for the quiet beauty of our state, the grandeur of our mountains, the vastness of the rolling plains ..."

Those words begin the Montana Constitution, adopted by Montanans in 1972. We chose these lofty phrases to capture the essence of this spectacular place we call home.

Rolling plains like those of the Missouri River country and along the Rocky Mountain Front. Grand mountains from the Snowcrest Range to the Whitefish Range. Havens of quiet beauty, from the lush Yaak to the arid Pryor Mountains.