Here we go again trying to get a White Clouds (CIEDRA) wilderness bill passed. The latest version has been improved by dropping most of the federal land giveaways and pork-barrel economic handouts. The actual White Clouds area is still a skinny, rocks-and-ice compromise with the motor community, but the Jerry Peak and Boulders areas are a great addition. The biggest roadless area in 49 states can finally get some protection.
Clayton probably doesn't need a 23-acre cemetery (pop. 27) and the Boulder Creek study area and the Stanley basin front should be in wilderness, but for 30 years the Forest Service has allowed unauthorized motorized encroachment there and now they are a lost-side compromise. The left-out study areas should not be permanently excluded from reconsideration. The NIREPA (20 million acres) bill is an Eastern representatives' fantasy that no Western delegation will ever endorse, so this is our best shot at what is left.
We (federal landowners) have a proposal for 330,000 acres (of 460,000 acres total) that has a chance of passing and being signed. Considering the attrition of the past 35 years, I believe that this effort is as good as we are going to get. Let's put it on the map! The real gorilla sitting at the table is the 138-year-old mining law that was written for picks and pans and now allows foreign companies to open-pit mine thousands of acres of our land with no compensation or rehab, and we build the roads for them.
Alan Reynolds
Ketchum
