WASHINGTON-The marbled hallways of the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill are a long ways and many steps removed from the wilds of Central Idaho. But it is here, among navy blue power suits and heels briskly clicking on tile floors, that the fate of the Boulder and White Cloud mountain ranges has begun to be considered.
On Wednesday, Oct. 26, a day before his Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act began its legislative journey, Congressman Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, sat down in his third-floor Longworth office to discuss the six and a half years that led to this juncture in Idaho's rich history of wilderness designations.
The congressman's starched white shirt and cufflinks stood in contrast to his typically casual Idaho appearance, but he was, as he often is, laid back. He shared memories and photographs from trips to the White Cloud Mountains. He talked about political risk and what it's like wearing a little bit of green beneath the red cloak of his party. He concluded that working on wilderness and economic development legislation for Central Idaho has been the toughest task he has undertaken in seven years as a Washington, D.C., politician.
"This is one of those things that, if it was easy, it would be done," he said. "It is the most complicated issue that we've dealt with. Consequently, it's the most challenging. It has been fascinating. There's times when you want to pull your hair out. There's times you want to scream. But it's all worth it."
He also said his bill, which would resolve a 25-year wilderness dispute and simultaneously generate needed economic development in rural Idaho, has a legitimate shot at becoming law.
"I feel it's got a pretty good chance, especially here in the House, but that's where we've been working on it," he said. "We've been working across the aisle. There's some opposition. There are some groups that are opposed to it. And there are members who listen to those groups, groups like the Sierra Club. There are other members who look at it and understand that it's compromise. I think the chances are pretty good in the House. At least I'm optimistic. If I wasn't, this would be the wrong job to be in."
At this point, the congressman and his staff are taking things one step at a time and focusing their energy on the House proceedings. Should the bill make it to the Senate, Simpson may seek support or co-sponsorship from Sens. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and Larry Craig, R-Idaho. Crapo has expressed interest while Craig has said he is open to looking at it.
Should the bill fail, as wilderness designation efforts for the Boulder and White Cloud mountains have several times before, Simpson believes the last and best hope for such legislation may have passed.
"If we don't get something done this time, I don't think anyone will get anything done for a long time," he said. "I don't know that I would go through it again. You look at the people who have laid it on the line for this. Yea, it was a risk to go out and do this. I assumed from the start that I might get a Republican primary (opponent) out of this.
"But part of my job is to try to resolve conflicts. Once you get elected to Congress, you could probably stay here for a heck of a long time by doing nothing, by never taking anything up controversial."
To work toward resolution, the homily he has preached is about compromise. That he has struck something close to a true accord is evident in the opposition from constituents on the far left and far right, he said.
To illustrate the point, Simpson recalled a conversation he had several years ago with Rick Johnson, the executive director of the Idaho Conservation League, a conservation group with front-and-center seats at Simpson's negotiating table.
"I told Rick, 'If we are successful at this, you and I will probably be looking for new jobs.' It's a risk for him. It's a risk for me. He's having as hard a time selling this to the purists in his organization as I am trying to sell it to some of the purists on my side of the aisle, and that tells me we must be reaching something close to a compromise that works.
"For the last 30 years, we've been unwilling to compromise on how to manage the Bolder-White Clouds. So we've been managing by lawsuits and regulations, and that's a poor and expensive way to manage," he said. "I have said all along that this has to come from the people of Idaho. They have to buy in. You can't impose it on people."
In the midst of all the politicking, consensus building, line drawing and sales pitching of the past six and a half years, Simpson said the Boulder and White Cloud mountains and the communities surrounding them have gotten farther under his skin. It's difficult not to take the project personally.
"It's hard not to get too attached to the White Clouds," he said. "They're such a beautiful place. I think it's the most beautiful mountain range anywhere. You also want to see it work for the ranchers in the East Fork Salmon River area. You want to see it work for Custer County. You want to give the commissioners a chance to help craft a future for their citizens."
But it's about more than making it work for Custer County, he said.
"You want to see it work because those people who enjoy outdoor recreation shouldn't have to worry about being run out of an area. You want to do it so your great grandchildren will look back and say, 'Thank God somebody saved this area.' And I believe these areas will be more precious in the future than they are now. I believe these places are the places that make Idaho great. Places like Idaho, the Pacific Northwest really, will become more and more valuable.
"That's really what you're doing it for, for future generations. Honestly, if this passes and becomes law, to me and you, there's not going to be a great deal of change. What it will do is, down the road, 50 years from now, people we don't even know yet, they'll see the significance of what we've done."
And so it begins. The project Simpson announced in 1999 near the shores of Redfish Lake beneath the craggy peaks of the Sawtooth Mountains has flourished into what he believes is an achievable bill. The coming months and the members of the 109th Congress will decide the rest.
