Otter softens Sagebrush stand
No one can say Idaho Gov. Butch Otter has enthusiastically embraced the collaborative process that has spread across the West over the past 25 years. As a congressman, he rejected both Rep. Mike Simpson’s Boulder-White Clouds wilderness bills and Sen. Mike Crapo’s Owyhee initiative, which led to creating 517,000 acres of desert wilderness. But Otter didn’t stand in the way of passage in 2015 when Simpson’s Central Idaho wilderness bill was approved unanimously in Congress. Had he been intransigent — which is his instinct on designating wilderness, closing land to mechanized travel and resource development — neither would be law/Rocky Barker, Idaho Statesman. More here.
Question: Do you agree/disagree that Butch Otter has accomplished much to protect Idaho values by softening his stance in dealing with the federal government?