Event focuses on saving wild areas

How to protect North Idaho’s pristine landscapes and wildlife is the topic of the 11th Annual Wild Idaho North! Conference in Sandpoint on Oct. 20. The conference is co-sponsored by the Idaho Conservation League and the Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness.

“As North Idaho grows and develops, it’s important to plan ahead and keep some places quiet and natural for our kids and grandkids,” said Susan Drumheller of the Idaho Conservation League. “We are going to explore ways to keep Idaho special.”

Idaho is widely known for its spectacular backcountry, but North Idaho has no protected wilderness areas, Drumheller noted.

Collaboration among diverse interest groups is one controversial approach to be addressed by panelists Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, John Gatchell of the Montana Wilderness Association, Jim Riley of the Intermountain Forestry Association and Gary Macfarlane of Friends of the Clearwater.

Wilderness advocate Brock Evans will be the keynote speaker at the daylong conference. As a Sierra Club and National Audubon Society advocate, Evans spent decades working to protect North Idaho’s backcountry.

Evans, president of the Endangered Species Coalition in Washington, D.C., will share stories from his days in North Idaho as well as advice for people working to protect pristine backcountry areas.

A wilderness panel will feature advocates for proposed wilderness areas in the Scotchman Peaks, the Selkirk Mountains and the Great Burn in the Bitterroot Mountains, plus Doug Scott with the national Campaign for America’s Wilderness.

Dave Spicer, an Idaho Department of Fish and Game regional wildlife biologist, and Suzanne Stone of Defenders of Wildlife will speak on the activities and status of North Idaho’s wolf packs.

The $45 registration fee includes catered lunch, dinner, slide shows and music by Truck Mills and Marc Clarke. Registration deadline is Wednesday. For more information, call Drumheller at (208) 265-9565, or go to www.wildidaho.org.