High School Students Get A Taste Of Politics Their Campaign For Endangered Species Act Met With Opposition

A group of Boise High School students with a simple plan of maintaining a strong Endangered Species Act have received a real-life lesson in politics, complete with opposition.

“I didn’t expect to find people who didn’t support us,” said Molly Neitzel, 16, spokeswoman for Students Against Vanishing Ecosystems. “I shouldn’t have been surprised, but it was a shock.”

The students are taking their position to Republican Sen. Dirk Kempthorne through petitions proposing a “species bill of rights” countering the senator’s dramatic revisions to the law.

In their campaign for an alternative to Kempthorne’s bill, the students have collected 1,044 signatures from across the state. But they were harder to gather than the students expected.

They recounted incidents of people brushing past them with disparaging remarks like “tree hugger.”

They said a meeting with Kempthorne’s staff turned unpleasant when three students refused to give details of their plans for a march and rally. Both the students and Kempthorne’s staff said they have moved past the incident, which both attribute to a misunderstanding.

Lee Merrick, student body president of Rimrock Junior-Senior High School in Grand View, sent letters to Boise High School principal Gary Slee, accusing the student group at his school of using “inflammatory generalizations” to promote their position.”

Ranchers, loggers and other resource users contend the act makes it difficult to earn a living. Others say it should remain a powerful last line of defense for species being driven toward extinction.

Slee said the conflicts the students are experiencing appear to be teaching them valuable lessons.

“This is an issue that cuts along lines of economics, value systems, philosophies,” he said. “I think the kids are finding that it’s one thing to have a point of view. But when you bring that point of view to the public arena, you’re faced with a lot of different feelings that come to the surface.”

Dick Jordan, the students’ biology instructor, is thrilled with their campaign.

“As an educator, it’s a dream come true to see kids well-motivated and doing this because they want to.”

“The fact of the matter is that we have kids who are out there, getting involved, who feel strongly about the issue, and that’s a good thing,” said Brian Whitlock, head of Kempthorne’s Boise office.

The Idaho Wildlife Federation, which provided its membership list to the students, supports their effort.

“For me, it’s kids taking action,” director Kent Laverty said. “Don’t underestimate what kids can do.”