October 23, 2005

By Todd Adams todd@challismessenger.com

The Challis Messenger

P.O. Box 405

Challis, Idaho 83226

208-879-4445

Fax: 208-879-5276

http://www.ChallisMessenger.com

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Most of the proposed federal land transfers under CIEDRA are shown above. The map doesn't show 162 acres of SNRA land or the proposed transfer of L&W Stone's Three River Quarry. Both transfers are still part of the bill, according to Rep. Mike Simpson's office. http://www.challismessenger.com/images/story/10132005/CC_Parcels1.png

A congressional hearing on the Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act (CIEDRA) has been tentatively scheduled for October 26, 2005, according to Rep. Mike Simpson.

Despite a long public debate, Simpson doesn't think the bill is losing momentum. His office still gets "tons of letters," he said, and some who initially opposed parts of the bill are "starting to take another look" and now support it.

The bill creates more than 300,000 acres of wilderness in the Boulder and White Cloud mountains, appropriates money and transfers more than 6,000 acres of federal land to Custer County and its cities for economic development.

The hearing should be placed on the calendar of Rep. Greg Walden's Sub-committee on Forests and Forest Health sometime this week, Simpson said. The subcommittee will hear about an hour and a half of testimony.

Each witness typically gets just three to five minutes, said Lindsay Slater, Simpson's chief of staff.

The subcommittee will then refer it to Rep. Richard Pombo's House Resources Committee without any recommendation, where it will get an up or down vote. If it passes the full committee, it will go to the House floor for debate.

Simpson is optimistic CIEDRA will pass the 109th session of Congress and become law in 2006.

"I think it will do very well" in the House Resources Committee, Simpson told The Challis Messenger on October 6, 2005, adding that's his gut feeling after talking to committee members and explaining the bill to them.

"As with most compromises, there are parts they like and parts they don't."

Simpson said most committee members are very interested in what he's trying to do with the bill.

CIEDRA expands the wilderness debate, moves beyond "land management by lawsuit" and toward solving regional economic problems while addressing the needs of ranchers, recreationists and other stakeholders, Simpson has said.

The congressman sees CIEDRA as "the future of wilderness bills" because it takes into account the economies of surrounding communities.

Simpson said CIEDRA gives Custer County tools to improve its economy and tax base through land transfers and a $5 million direct appropriation.

Controversy

The most controversial part of the bill continues to be the proposed transfer of 162 acres of Sawtooth National Rec-reation Area (SNRA) to Custer County and the City of Stanley. Fifty-one percent of those polled oppose the transfer, while 36 percent "strongly oppose" it, according to a recent statewide poll paid for by the Idaho Conservation League (ICL).

The Stanley land transfers are a "key" part of the bill and will stay in, despite the opposition, Simpson said. Some opponents may change their minds if they take a look at the land, he said, but added those who oppose it probably won't change their minds.

An even more controversial transfer of nearly 1,000 acres near Cape Horn was removed from the bill last fall, but Simpson said the Stanley-area transfers are "a big thing" and will help boost the city's and the county's budgets.

More people understand that CIEDRA is a compromise, he said, with "something for everyone to hate" and "something for everyone to like."

"Depending on whether you're an idealist or not, if you're working for the ideal bill that satisfies all your needs, it's never going to pass," said Simpson, adding it's not the bill he would have written for himself.

He believes CIEDRA is "the Idaho solution" and allows Idahoans to tell Congress what to do about wilderness in the state, instead of vice-versa.

"We can do a solution or have one imposed on us," by lawsuits, the congressman said. "I think this is the best we can do."

Wilderness vs. economics

Support for the economic development portion of CIEDRA for Custer County has more than tripled.

In a 2004 poll that ICL never made public, six percent supported it. That grew to 21 percent in the 2005 poll.

Those economic development tools are important be-cause Simpson admits the wilderness designation alone probably wouldn't spur an economic boom in Custer County.

"Visits from tourists are not going to do it," Simpson said.

The county has lost mining and logging jobs because there's not as much extractive industry now on national forests, the congressman said.

While the wilderness designation wouldn't replace those jobs, Simpson believes the county will see some economic benefit. It's interesting that the closer outfitters and guides are to a wilderness area, the more they advertise it, he said, "so there must be some benefit."

Plus, he said, things may change in the future. People opposed to wilderness say "wilderness is forever," but "I look at it the opposite way," Simpson said.

If in 30-50 years the mineral value outweighs the value of wilderness, that designation can be changed. A future society might say mining the molybdenum at Castle Peak is necessary, Simpson said.

The proposed ASARCO mine project there spurred the creation of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area in 1972, which halted mining plans.

If part of the Boulder-White Clouds is not preserved as wilderness now, it never will be, Simpson believes.

In the future, the congressman said people will say, "thank goodness we preserved it."

Copyright 2005, Challis Messenger.

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Additional related information:

Todd ... has two bachelor's degrees, one in journalism from the University of Colorado (his home state) and one in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology from the University of Wyoming. During the 1980s, Todd worked for several newspapers in Wyoming as a reporter, photographer, and editor (of the Pinedale Roundup). A seasonal job as a fisheries technician with the U.S. Forest Service brought him to Challis in 1992. He solidified his roots by buying a house in 1998, which he is still remodeling. Source: http://www.zoominfo.com/directory/Adams_Todd_8322457.htm