For the week of May 21 - 27, 2003

Simpson says bill evolving for Boulder-White Clouds

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By GREGORY FOLEY
Express Staff Writer

Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, told a crowd of environmental activists last weekend that legislation to establish the Boulder-White Cloud Mountains as federally designated wilderness is evolving, albeit slowly.

"Maybe next year at this time we’ll have something to celebrate or will be close to having something to celebrate," he said.

Simpson, who represents Idaho’s 2^nd Congressional District, made the comments Sunday, May 18, at the Idaho Conservation League’s annual Wild Idaho! Conference, held at the Redfish Lake Lodge near Stanley.

At the event, Simpson addressed approximately 100 ICL members and staff as part of a panel established to discuss conservation issues. The panel discussion focused almost exclusively on Simpson and his ongoing work to possibly propose legislation that could establish the vast Boulder-White Cloud Mountains as protected wilderness.

Simpson said legislation for establishing a wilderness area in the mountain range north of Ketchum could be "on paper" in the near future, but warned that the proposal will call for compromises from several different interest groups.

"It is a bill that has many aspects to it," he said.

He called compromise the "keystone" of making such a proposal work. "In some areas everybody is going to have to swallow," he said.

Speaking less equivocally about the pending legislation, Lindsay Slater, chief of staff for Simpson, said the bill would incorporate a multitude of land-use proposals that will attempt to satisfy—as much as possible—all interested parties in the region.

Slater said the era of legislators passing so-called "stand-alone" wilderness bills is coming to an end. "Everybody has to win, because everyone has to support this," he said.

He said a proposal by Simpson to establish wilderness in the Boulder-White Clouds will likely include four components, specifically:

• A plan to promote economic development for Custer County and its surrounding areas.
  
   
• Language to protect the interests of private-property owners and agriculture in the Boulder-White Clouds region. He added that he believes the livelihoods of ranchers in central Idaho "have been severely affected by lawsuits" from competing interest groups.
  
   
• Plans directed at meeting the interests of those that use public lands for recreational activities such as hunting, snowmobile riding and all-terrain-vehicle riding.
  
   
• A proposal to address the desire of many central-Idaho conservationists to designate a large area of wilderness in the region.

Slater said he and fellow staff members have identified many of the problems associated with the legislation, and are planning now "to roll up our sleeves" and find solutions.

He succinctly stated that those working on the proposal have not delineated where a new wilderness area in the Boulder-White Clouds could be located. "We are not drawing lines on maps," he said. "That’s when people get polarized."

He added: "We’re not drafting legislation, because it’s the same problem."

Slater said Simpson supports the interests of ranchers who operate on the east slope of the White Cloud Mountains. "We know what we want: to maintain the East Fork (of the Salmon River) ranchers."

When asked if a plan might also propose the Pioneer Mountains for wilderness designation, Slater said: "They could find their way into this. But right now we’re looking at the Boulder-White Clouds."

Simpson said because Idahoans disagree on how the state’s pristine areas should be used and because his voter base is not generally inclined toward environmental conservation, the "easiest thing politically would be to walk away from all this."

However, he said he does not plan to do that. "Hopefully, this will come to conclusion in something important," he said. Rick Johnson, executive director of the ICL, said he was encouraged by Simpson’s comments. "I think he truly believes that it is an area worthy of protection," he said.

 

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