Boulder-White Clouds Update

Update by Linn Kincannon, Boulder-White Clouds Campaign Director for Idaho Conservation League

Take action!

Write a letter or send an email to Sen. Larry Craig and urge him to join you in supporting CIEDRA. Visit the Senator's website for contact information.

Central Idaho Economic and Development Act (CIEDRA) in the 109th Congress (2006)

CIEDRA passed the US House of Representatives in the summer of 2006, the first Idaho Wilderness bill to do so in 26 years -- more than a generation. While it took well over six years to craft the details of the proposed legislation, when the right moment came, House passage was swift.

Although Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) held a hearing for CIEDRA in the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests on Sept. 27, 2006, Congress adjourned a few days later and the bill made no further progress in the Senate.

But Congress had left many appropriations bills until after the elections and planned a "lame duck" session in Nov. As we all know, both houses changed leadership in the mid-term elections. During the lame duck session, the Republican leadership decided to pass just one bill before they adjourned. Rep. Simpson worked hard to get CIEDRA attached to that bill, as newly-elected Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada attached his White Pine County land development bill which included Wilderness. Senator Reid's bill passed as part of the tax and trade bill that moved. But CIEDRA was replaced in the bill to make room for a tax break bill for Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert's constituents. Rep. Simpson deserves tremendous credit for the courageous and smart battle he fought to pass Idaho's first Wilderness bill in over 26 years.

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CIEDRA in the beginning of the 110th Congress (2007)

Although CIEDRA failed to pass in the Senate at the end of 2006, it was reintroduced in the House in early 2007 to build on last year's momentum. In fact, Rep. Simpson reintroduced CIEDRA on the first day of the new session. He made no changes in the reintroduced version, other than to include language that would facilitate grazing buyouts he had promised to ranchers, but had been forced to remove by former Chairman Pombo (R-CA) the year before.

The new bill number is HR 222. Rep. Simpson has said he expects the bill to go through some changes as he works with the Democratic majority to address their concerns.

The Idaho Conservation League looks forward to beneficial changes to the bill and will work to support those changes with local support and volunteer lobbying visits. The most challenging aspect for Rep. Simpson and the Democrats in Congress will be to craft changes that will address the concerns of the majority party D's without losing the support of the most Republican state in the nation. As with many other issues on the table this year, it's a very difficult dance. We believe that they will succeed and we will help urge these legislators along the path to success.

There are a myriad of things that need to be done by Idaho Conservation League again this year to ensure passage: flying community leaders and activists back to DC as often as necessary, visiting editorial boards, getting letters of support and much more. This year, our senior Senator Larry Craig's support will be essential for passage of CIEDRA. He must hear that Idahoans support the bill. Please write or email him by visiting his web page for contact information. And please consider a special donation to the Idaho Conservation League to help with these action items.

The Boulder-White Clouds wilderness bill, CIEDRA, would protect magnificent country and set the stage for future work to permanently protect other wild places, and it was worthy of passage last year. The likely beneficial changes that will be made to the bill this year increase our commitment to success. Thank you for your support and do not hesitate to contact us for more information:

For more information on the Boulder-White Clouds contact Linn Kincannon: lkincannon@wildidaho.org, 208.726.7485. Visit Rep. Simpson's website for a copy of HR 222 and for maps showing on-the-ground boundaries and locations for provisions in CIEDRA: Rep. Simpson's website.

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History of CIEDRA and Idaho Conservation League's work

On Monday, July 24, 2006, the US House of Representatives passed legislation to protect the Boulder and White Cloud Mountains. We were on our way to almost 320,000 acres of newly designated wilderness, an area far bigger than the neighboring Sawtooth Wilderness. It is an area of extraordinary diversity, full of recreation opportunities and wildlife habitat.

The magnificent new wilderness of jaw-dropping beauty in the bill would be the first new wilderness designation for Idaho in 26 years, a grand achievement. Some oppose the compromises found in the current bill and the Idaho Conservation League recognizes that these are serious compromises. But we believe the bill is worthy of support.

The Idaho Conservation League's long-term vision for Idaho wilderness is a bold one; over 12 million acres of Idaho's backcountry is eligible for wilderness, and if we're ever going to protect it, we must relearn how to do it. Idaho wilderness or wild river bills passed in 1964, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1975, 1978, and 1980, a remarkable cycle of success, yet not a single acre of Idaho wilderness has been protected since then.

While we have a bold vision for the future, it is time for practical reality on the ground. Some say a bold vision without implementation is a hallucination. We are implementing our vision.

The Idaho Conservation League began a campaign to protect the Boulder-White Clouds for simple reasons: to move beyond politics of polarization and create politics of possibility; to reach deeply into the citizenry of Idaho - where the majority of people are - and to work collaboratively to get something done and protect the peaks, lakes, and wildlife habitat of the White Clouds and Boulders.

The Boulder-White Clouds bill is not perfect. The future of Idaho wilderness can no longer afford to let perfect be the enemy of good. And as former Idaho Governor Cecil Andrus has said, this may be our last chance to protect it as wilderness. Andrus helped block the open-pit mine at the base of Castle Peak in the early 1970s, and he is quite aware that in just the past three years, 33,000 new motorized off-road vehicles have been registered in Idaho for a total of 105,000, some harming the very landscape we are working to preserve. The values we seek to protect are being degraded as we speak.

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Key elements of the bill:

The Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act began as a discussion about wilderness, initiated by the Idaho Conservation League. Rep. Mike Simpson, however, was not interested only in a discussion; if he was to engage this issue, as he said from the very beginning, he was going to break the decades-long logjam and create a bill that could pass. He was playing to win.

CIEDRA was written by Rep. Simpson to address the four constituent groups he believes could kill the bill outright -- ranchers, motorized recreationists, the rural county, and conservationists.

Specific bill provisions include:

  • Wilderness designation for more than 300,000 acres of existing Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management land. Included in the Wilderness is over 100,000 acres of wildlife habitat on the east side of the Boulder-White Clouds, over Trail Creek summit. Also included in the Wilderness would be the West Fork of the East Fork, a wild area currently open to motorcycles and snowmobiles. Wilderness designation will end those uses.
  • Opportunities for the voluntary retirement of grazing permits, to help ranchers in the area, and which would facilitate the restoration of riparian habitat for widllife and salmon, steelhead and bull trout - fish species listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Special Act.
  • Establishment of a 520,000-acre special management area surrounding the wilderness area to insure that most motorized trails remain motorized and that non-motorized trails remain non-motorized. The most popular hiking trail in the White Clouds, Fourth of July trailhead to Washington Lake, would be closed to motorcycles and mountain bikes. No new trails may be built. The management area would be managed to a higher standard than regular federal lands. Lands that fall within the SNRA would continue to be part of the SNRA.
  • Approximately 5.000 acres of public land would be conveyed to Stanley, Mackay, Challis, Clayton, Blaine and Custer counties, and the State of Idaho. The most controversial of these land conveyances is 162 acres adjacent to the city of Stanley, within the SNRA. The other land transfers would be BLM lands.
  • Grants for economic development would be made available to Custer county to help improve and stabilize their economy.
  • Establishment of new motorized recreation and biking opportunities close to Boise, rather than in the immediate vicinity of the proposed wilderness. This would be accomplished through a transfer of 960 acres to the state of Idaho.
  • Creation of first-ever wheelchair accessible trails in wilderness. These short, primitive trails would enable wheelchair users to experience wilderness unassisted, as well as provide recreation opportunities for elderly persons.
  • Offers significant protections to waters in wilderness by specifically prohibiting future development of any new water resource facility (including dams, reservoirs, and wells). The wilderness areas established under CIEDRA would have an extra degree of protection that Idaho's existing wilderness areas do not have.

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Support and Opposition

CIEDRA is a carefully crafted package that has the support of local ranchers, various conservation groups, adjacent counties and cities, and over 150 Idaho businesses.

The bill has also been endorsed by former Governor Cecil Andrus, former Senator James McClure, and Bethine Church, the wife of the late Senator Frank Church.

There is opposition to the bill from both ends of the political spectrum. Groups which represent off-road vehicle enthusiasts - both snowmobiles and motorbikes/ATVs - officially oppose this legislation and are working to kill it. Some environmental groups believe that if we wait, we can get it all our way, and have worked to prevent passage of CIEDRA.

Idaho Conservation League continues to work for passage of CIEDRA and Wilderness protection for the Boulder-White Clouds.

For more information on the Boulder-White Clouds contact Linn Kincannon: lkincannon@wildidaho.org, 208.726.7485.

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