Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Wilderness bill revised, reintroduced

Controversial land transfers near Stanley dropped


By JASON KAUFFMAN
Express Staff Writer

Express photo by Jason Kauffman A rugged sub-ridge connecting to 11,815-foot Castle Peak (to the right of the photo) is reflected in a small alpine lake in the roadless, central core of the White Cloud Mountains. This area—a popular destination for backpackers and other backcountry enthusiasts—will become designated wilderness should Rep. Mike Simpson’s Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act pass Congress.

It's been a decade since Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, first unveiled legislation to protect the high and wild Boulder and White Cloud mountains as federally designated wilderness.

The bill—dubbed the Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act—has come within an inch of passage in Congress at several instances, only to lose out at the last minute.

Last Friday, Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, both Republicans, introduced the latest version of the CIEDRA legislation to the U.S. Senate. In the House, Reps. Mike Simpson, a Republican, and Walt Minnick, a Democrat, were scheduled to introduce the revised legislation on Tuesday evening.

First unveiled to the public in 1999, CIEDRA has gone through a series of changes in the 10 years since. The revisions to the newest version now introduced into the 111th session of Congress are among the most substantive and are meant to build broader support among both political parties and conservationists, said Rick Johnson, executive director of the Idaho Conservation League, which has championed the bill from the very beginning.

"We now have a piece of legislation that really has taken care of the most significant grievances opponents of the bill have had," Johnson said.

Utmost among those changes is the removal of several thousand acres of federal land transfers in the Sawtooth Valley and elsewhere in Custer County. These deletions include two parcels within the community of Stanley that have drawn the ire of conservationists from Idaho and elsewhere.

Those transfers—totaling 76 acres—are no longer included in the bill.

CIEDRA still designates three separate wilderness areas across a vast expanse of central Idaho high country stretching from within five miles of Ketchum north to within sight of Stanley. They are the Hemingway-Boulders (110,217 acres), Jerry Peak (131,670 acres) and White Clouds (90,888 acres) wilderness areas. Only a narrow non-wilderness corridor running the length of Germania Creek in the southern White Clouds separates the three wilderness areas.

A roughly 14,000-acre expansion to the overall wilderness tally designated by CIEDRA is another outcome of the new revisions. The majority of this acreage are additions to the White Clouds Wilderness east of Stanley.

These include lands above Sunbeam Village along the main Salmon River corridor, portions of upper Slate Creek and the east half of Red Ridge adjacent to the East Fork of the Salmon River. In all, CIEDRA now designates 332,828 acres of wilderness in the Boulder-White Clouds.

Lindsay Slater, Simpson's chief of staff, said Monday that the additions were thoroughly vetted to make sure they don't conflict with existing uses. Slater said none of the new areas added to the overall wilderness tally contain lands that are currently open to motorized uses.

He said the Democratic leadership convinced Simpson to drop land transfers from the bill unless they have a clear public benefit. Those that remain include a one-acre transfer to Blaine County for a school bus turnaround in lower Eagle Creek northwest of Ketchum and a 460-acre parcel just south of Challis. In all, the revised CIEDRA bill transfers just over 900 acres to local and county governments.

In exchange for dropping many of the transfers in the new bill, Simpson negotiated a number of federal grants for economic development and infrastructure projects to Custer County totaling just over $6 million. All but $1 million of that has already been allocated, Slater said.

Those funds for economic development will be allocated to Custer County if and when CIEDRA is approved.

CIEDRA still includes a provision allowing ranchers along the East Fork of the Salmon River to voluntarily retire their grazing permits in exchange for compensation from private sources. Those allotments would be permanently closed to grazing.

Most involved in the push to get CIEDRA passed and signed into law say its best chance to get passed this year is to get attached to a large omnibus lands bill that originates in the Senate. That would allow the package of bills to sidestep potential filibuster efforts.

A similar omnibus lands bill signed into law in early 2009 included a bill that designated 517,000 acres of wilderness in Idaho's Owyhee canyonlands, the state's first new wilderness in nearly three decades. Simpson narrowly missed having his Boulder-White Clouds bill included in that package.

CIEDRA backers clearly don't want to miss out on an omnibus lands bill this time around. They say a committee hearing in the Senate—the bill's next real step—could occur as soon as this month. After that, CIEDRA would be well positioned should Democratic leadership in the Senate elect to combine public lands legislation into a large omnibus bill.

"Our goal is to make sure it's ready when the train leaves," Slater said.

Jason Kauffman: jkauffman@mtexpress.com




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