Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Simpson will pass CIEDRA 'or die trying'

Wilderness bill creator urges supporters to write Idaho senators


By STEVE BENSON
Express Staff Writer

Rep. Mike Simpson

Wilderness in the Boulder and White Clouds mountains will become reality if supporters can outmuscle a campaign meant to derail the bill, Rep. Mike Simpson told participants Sunday in the 20th Wild Idaho conference at Redfish Lake Lodge, south of Stanley.

"I've got very many vices and very few virtues," Simpson said. "But when I say I'm going to do something, I do it or I die trying, and we will get this bill done with your help."

Simpson, R-Idaho, is the creator of the Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act (CIEDRA). The bill would designate as wilderness over 300,000 acres in three units in the Boulder-White Clouds in exchange for a series of concessions to Custer County, most notably the transfer of about 3,500 acres of public land for private use.

The bill relies heavily on compromise, seeking to balance the interests of ranchers, off-road vehicle enthusiasts, conservationists and Custer County, which is comprised of 96 percent federal land. By doing so, it has fractured the environmental community.

Groups like the Boulder White Clouds Council and the Idaho Conservation League, which sponsored Wild Idaho, support CIEDRA.

More die-hard environmentalists and larger national organizations, like the Sierra Club, have spoken out against the bill, claiming the concessions to Custer County are too great. Singer-songwriter Carole King, a Custer County resident, has also been an outspoken opponent of the bill. King is a supporter of the Rockies Prosperity Act, which seeks to designate more wilderness in the Boulder-White Clouds, but doesn't seem keen on compromise.

CIEDRA supporters have repeatedly stated that they're against the land giveaways, but that protecting the Boulder-White Clouds will never come without compromise.

Lynne Stone, president of the Boulder-White Clouds Council, has been fighting to protect the Boulder-White Clouds for 30 years. With a growing population of motorized users, who are generally anti-wilderness, Stone has repeatedly stated that "this is the last best chance" to designate wilderness in the Boulder-White Clouds.

She repeated Sunday that she disliked certain aspects of CIEDRA but has learned to accept them as part of the overall goal. She also expressed frustration with the Sierra Club and King for trying to sink CIEDRA to promote their own agendas.

"I'm so disgusted with some of my so-called fellow conservationists," Stone said. "If they're going to disagree, do it with facts, not baloney."

She added that CIEDRA would also open the door for future wilderness acts in Idaho, which hasn't seen the passage of a wilderness act since 1980, when 2.3 million acres in the central part of the state were designated as the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness.

Simpson said "everything we do in Congress is a compromise," and that CIEDRA is no different. He defended the land transfers, which have been paired down from 7,500 acres to around 3,500 acres, as necessary for the survival of Custer County.

"They're in dire need," he said.

Simpson also blasted critics, like King, who have portrayed him as a hypocrite since he is opposed to President Bush's proposal to sell public lands to fund the Secure Rural Schools Program.

"Selling federal lands for budget offsets is unacceptable," Simpson wrote in a Mountain Express guest opinion Friday, May 19.

"In contrast, my locally developed CIEDRA legislation will transfer 163 acres of Sawtooth National Recreation Area (SNRA) lands adjacent to Stanley and approximately 3500 acres of BLM lands to Custer County and local public entities. These lands were selected after careful consideration by the Custer County commissioners, public hearings and public comment, and are designed to provide economic opportunities and public benefit for Custer County and its rural communities."

Simpson said he expects the House to pass CIEDRA in early June, but that a pending Senate hearing could be more of a challenge.

On Sunday, he warned CIEDRA supporters that "there will be a concerted campaign against this bill, and I think it will be towards the Senate.

"We will see hundreds of thousands of letters towards the senators."

He urged CIEDRA supporters to do the same.

"Work on the Senate side," he said.




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