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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Huckleberries Online

Idaho legislators planning a heist

As the sun shines our way, minutes more each day, we Inland Northwesterners shed our winter clothing as fast as we can. We bare our skin and liberate our toes and drink in the spring green of the trees.

And when the days are ripe enough, we'll head to the trails to bike, or the hills to hike, or the streams to fish, or the lakes to motor. It's the time of year that we most appreciate our amazing range of open spaces — public lakes, public parks and public land.

Idaho boasts 30 state parks and manages 2.4 million acres of forested trust land. Within the Idaho borders lie 437 lakes. In addition, Idaho contains 34.5 million acres of federal public land. This abundance of natural landscape attracts outdoor sportsmen and sportswomen from home and abroad and keeps lifelong residents from straying very far.

But protecting our natural heritage requires vigilance on the part of everyday Idahoans who hunt, fish, hike and camp. I repeat the old cautionary slogan: "They're fixin' to steal your land."/Mary Lou Reed, Inlander. More here.



D.F. Oliveria
D.F. (Dave) Oliveria joined The Spokesman-Review in 1984. He currently is a columnist and compiles the Huckleberries Online blog and writes about North Idaho in his Huckleberries column.

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