Wilderness bill met coolly
WASHINGTON – A sweeping conservation bill that would designate 24 million acres of public land across the West as wilderness met with mixed reviews Thursday, even with the backing of Carole King and national environmental groups.
King, the singer-songwriter who has long supported wilderness, reminded disheartened supporters that it was a victory just to get the legislation heard in Congress. It is the first time the proposal has had a hearing in more than a decade.
“Today is a great day,” said King, who owns a ranch near Stanley, Idaho. Speaking to supporters, she said, “The Northern Rockies ecosystem … is having a hearing. Let this bill embolden and energize you to seek solutions that are true to the principles of why you got into this work in the first place.”
The bill was heard in the public lands subcommittee of the House Natural Resources Committee. More than 100 House members – mostly Democrats, and mostly from outside of the West – signed on as co-sponsors.
The measure’s goal is to designate all of the inventoried roadless areas in the Northern Rockies as wilderness. It would authorize a land restoration program that would create thousands of jobs. The bill, known as the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act, would cover nearly 9.5 million acres in Idaho, 7 million acres in Montana, 5 million acres in Wyoming, 750,000 acres in Eastern Oregon and 500,000 acres in Eastern Washington.
Another 3 million acres in Yellowstone, Glacier and Grand Teton national parks also would be categorized as wilderness, meaning no logging, road-building or motorized use could occur.
Rep. Bill Sali, the only Idaho representative on the committee, popped briefly into the meeting, just in time to hear King’s testimony and ask several questions about what the wilderness designation would mean for access for the disabled and for firefighting efforts. He also submitted a letter from Idaho Gov. Butch Otter, who said his administration opposes the bill.
The bill also met with objection by Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho. Last year, King and her supporters helped kill Simpson’s Boulder-White Clouds wilderness bill with help from their anti-wilderness opponents. That bill would protect nearly 300,000 acres of wilderness. King and some conservation groups objected to a land swap that would give local governments the ability to develop some former federal land.
Republican committee members gave the King-backed bill a cool reception.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., said the bill would be devastating to the timber economy of the Eastern Washington district she represents.
“We share the goal of good stewardship,” McMorris Rodgers said. “But the key difference is how we accomplish those goals.”