Wild Possibilities May Return for BLM Land in Idaho
Monday, December 14, 2009
BOISE, Idaho - Wild possibilities could soon be in play for thousands of acres of public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Idaho. The U.S. Department of the Interior is considering reversing a Bush administration policy forbidding the BLM to recommend areas to be included in the National Wilderness Preservation System. If that happens, Mike Matz with the Campaign for America's Wilderness says, several areas in Idaho should be reviewed.
"We have 450,000 acres of public land that could be considered for inclusion - like Jerry Peak, which is part of the Boulder-White Clouds, and another place, called Grandmother Mountain, in northern Idaho."
About five percent of more than 260 million acres of BLM land across the country have been identified for possible wilderness designation, which Matz calls a low figure. He says the largest wilderness potential in the West is in Utah and Alaska, where millions of acres may qualify.
"The Interior Department in this administration is revisiting this issue. We hope they'll come out with a new policy that will enable BLM to do its job under the law."
BLM wilderness reviews were suspended after the Bush administration determined that all appropriate recommendations already had been made, so no additional land needed to be considered. Despite the suspension, thousands of acres in southwestern Idaho were designated as the Owyhee Canyonlands Wilderness in a bill signed earlier this year.
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