Owyhee wilderness wins broad support
WASHINGTON – Representatives of Idaho’s ranching and conservationist communities praised a bill Tuesday that would create a wilderness in southwest Idaho’s Owyhee canyonlands, while opening other lands to motorized recreation and grazing.
Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, introduced the bill, which comes after nearly a decade of debate over land use in the rugged Owyhee region. The bill would create an 807-square-mile wilderness while opening up 300 square miles of previously off-limits areas to motorized recreation, livestock grazing and other activities.
It also would provide ranchers with cash and federal land in exchange for giving up private land and giving up grazing rights on some public land, and it would offer federal protection to 316 miles of wild and scenic rivers in the Owyhees.
Chad Gibson, speaking for the Owyhee Cattle Association, said the measure could end decades of debate over public lands use in the area.
“This legislation clearly will not resolve all conflict but does offer a positive path forward,” said Gibson, a retired rangeland scientist and extension agent.
Besides the wilderness and land swap, the bill would create a science review and research center to provide independent and peer-reviewed expertise on government decisions, Gibson said. Consensus-based land management agreements such as the Owyhee Initiative will slow development and allow the area to maintain its rugged Western heritage, he said.
“The best hope for avoiding fragmentation through special-use ownership is to maintain the opportunity for viable ranching use,” Gibson told a hearing before a subcommittee of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Craig Gehrke, Idaho regional director for the Wilderness Society, said the Owyhee Initiative would provide lasting protection for critical ecological, scenic, recreational and wild areas that are threatened. The initiative also rises “above the polarization in many Western public land discussions” and can be a key step to ending land management disputes in Idaho and elsewhere in the West, Gehrke said.
“We are committed to working with Congress to ensure that the legislation is true to the intent of the Owyhee Initiative Agreement – a unique agreement developed in Idaho between conservationists, ranchers, Owyhee County elected officials, members of the Shoshone-Paiute Tribe, and others,” he said.
Crapo also stressed the consensus nature of the bill, saying it would ensure that “diverse land uses coexist in an area of intense beauty and unique character.”
The Owyhee Initiative “transforms conflict and uncertainty into conflict resolution and assurance of future activity,” Crapo said. “Ranchers can plan for subsequent generations. Off-road vehicle users have access assured. Wilderness is established. The Shoshone-Paiute Tribe knows its cultural resources will be protected. The Air Force will continue to train its pilots.”