The Campaign for America's Wilderness applauds the work of the Owyhee Initiative Work Group, Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID), and Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), which has resulted in today's hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests on the Owyhee Public Land Management Act of 2008 (S. 2833), sponsored by Senator Crapo. In a time of polarized congressional politics and frequent disputes over public lands in the West, this hearing is a positive sign of what can be done when bipartisanship, dialogue, and hard work are chosen over distrust, lawsuits, and stalemate.
Senator Crapo and Senator Bingaman, Chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, worked together to negotiate a new bill that will succeed in a Democratic-controlled Congress, while still meeting the original intentions of Senator Crapo's constituency: sustaining existing ranching operations, assisting the livelihood of the local community, and preserving quality wilderness.
The Campaign for America's Wilderness strongly supports this legislation, which will protect more than a half million acres of stunningly beautiful canyonlands and ecologically rich high desert in southwestern Idaho. It will also designate over 300 miles of rivers as Wild and Scenic, binding together wilderness units and creating unspoiled wildlife and rafting corridors.
Senator Crapo deserves high praise for his commitment to bringing together myriad stakeholders and diverse interests to find common ground on a comprehensive plan for the future of public lands in Owyhee County. His years of work will pay off for ranching families who will be able to continue operating, sportsmen who will continue to hunt in some of the best game territory in the West, as well as have access to new areas that will be open to the public under this legislation, communities that will have more law enforcement resources, Tribes which will receive more protection for cultural resources, and outdoor recreationists who will be able to enjoy this unspoiled, vast landscape for years into the future.
We're pleased that Senator Bingaman worked with Senator Crapo on this measure and is committed to moving it through the Senate. We look forward to quick passage of the Owyhees legislation and to working with Sen. Crapo and the Owyhee Initiative stakeholders to ensure full implementation of the bill and the Owyhee Initiative Agreement.