FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sen. Mike Crapo: Owyhee Initiative clears committee

Betsy Russell – Spokesman Review - Eye on Boise

U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo’s Owyhee Initiative, a collaborative wilderness bill that both creates new wilderness and releases land from wilderness consideration, has cleared the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Crapo reported that the bill, S. 2833, passed on a voice vote and likely will be included in a package of other land management bills that will be considered together by the full Senate as early as next month. “The Owyhee Initiative has made great progress here in the Senate, just as it has on the ground in Idaho, but we still have much to accomplish,” Crapo said. “We continue to work hard to secure the necessary funding to implement the language in the Initiative, and we must prepare to implement the agreements in the legislation once they become law.”

The bill creates 517,000 acres of new wilderness and releases 199,000 acres of wilderness study areas in the rugged backcountry of southwestern Idaho. It also provides assurances for continued ranching and economic activity and ensures continued access for backcountry users and preservation for Shoshone Paiute Tribal cultural resources in the area through local management agreements. Crapo said he joined the eight-year effort to negotiate the bill at the request of the Owyhee County commissioners. It’s been nearly three decades since Congress passed an Idaho wilderness bill.

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