Idaho Environmental Forum #160
The Owyhee Initiative:  How Unlikely Allies Came Together on an Idaho Public Lands Bill

SPEAKERS

Fred Grant serves as an attorney for Owyhee County Board of Commissioners and Chairman of the Owyhee Initiative.  Mr. Grant is a recognized leader in the western property rights movement.

John McCarthy represented the Idaho Conservation League on the Owyhee Initiative for five years and currently serves as Idaho Forest Campaign Director for The Wilderness Society.

John Hoehne is Chief of Staff for Senator Mike Crapo.  Mr. Hoehne has advised the Owyhee Initiative since its inception.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

One of the first items on the U.S. Senate’s agenda next year will be to vote on a package of 150 public lands bills that include a matter of special interest to Idaho:  the Owyhee Public Land Management Act.  This bill, sponsored by Senator Mike Crapo, would establish half-of-a-million acres of wilderness in the spectacular Owyhee and Bruneau canyon lands, release other areas from further study as potential wilderness, designate more than a dozen new wild and scenic rivers, and encourage further cooperation on public lands management.

The Owyhee Bill is the result of more than seven years of work by the Owyhee Initiative, a unique collaborative effort by ranchers, conservationists, recreationists, outfitters, Owyhee County, and the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes.  If the bill succeeds, it would become Idaho’s first wilderness and wild rivers legislation in more than a quarter-century.

Our speakers are three of the main architects and advisors of the Owyhee Initiative.   They will talk about the compromises and controversies on the initiative’s long journey to the halls of Congress.