Wilderness/Roadless
-
Senator Tester’s massive forest bill has been added to Senate omnibus appropriations bill- Every year the U.S. Congress’ procedure becomes more and more unglued. The reason for this is mostly partisan gridlock. So few freestanding bills (called regular order) are allowed by the opposition to pass or fail on a straight vote that extraordinary measures…
-
National newspaper notices importance of the struggle of Idaho and Montana citizens against international oil- Oil Sands Effort Turns on a Fight Over a Road. By Tom Zelller. New York Times. I wish the NYT had also exposed the sellout to the oil companies by the states’ politicians.
-
Worst case scenario seems correct- The Missoulian reports that a subsidiary of the national oil company of Korea now wants to use scenic U.S. Highway 12 through north central Idaho and over Lolo Pass to transport numerous giant oil (tar sands) equipment to Alberta. Despite worthless assurances about this kind of activity being a one…
-
Western Watersheds Project wins a great legal victory for wilderness and endangered fish. ~ Jon Marvel Friends, On July 30th, 2010 Idaho Chief District Judge B. Lynn Winmill issued an Order in Western Watersheds Project‘s favor overturning a Bureau of Land Management decision to build fencing within the Burnt Creek Wilderness Study Area (WSA) on…
-
Collaborate effort would result in more legally protected Wilderness, more logging, more ATVs- Well we have certainly seen this model many times in recent years. This wet, area of little known mountains (little known nationally) up against the Idaho/B.C. border is very important wildlife habitat. Proposal for Colville [WA state] National Forest a collaborative effort.…
-
Ranchers complain about losing control while accepting government handouts. The Buffalo Gap National Grassland of South Dakota doesn’t have buffalo any more but it certainly has a handful of ranchers with a strong sense of entitlement. They are worrying that wilderness designation will “steal” control that they seem to believe they should have over these…
-
Simpson writes Otter a letter- Rocky Barker has an important column on this many-years-in-the-making-“wilderness” bill. Simpson addresses Otter’s concerns about wilderness bill. Letters from the West. Idaho Statesman. By Rocky Barker. It looks to be that Rep. Simpson mostly just reassures the governor and promises him no changes in the language of the bill. After…
-
Governor Otter intervenes at last minute to dim hopes of settling 37 year old Idaho Wilderness controversy- Below a prominent Idaho Statesman political columnist weighs in to Otter’s sorry move. Considering Otter’s last minute actions to turn once supportive congressional Republicans against this fairly good and delicately balanced bill, I am reminded of Otter’s position…