Strong opinions in Boulder White Clouds debate

In the middle of Idaho lies the largest roadless section of land in the lower 48 states, the Boulder White Clouds. Right now there is debate about how best to protect it. Should Congress pass a wilderness bill? Should the president designate it a national monument under the Antiquities Act?

Strong opinions can be found on either side of the mountain.

“No, no, no!” That’s how Custer County Commissioner Wayne Butts feels about a national monument designation.

He worries about an influx of tourists that Custer County can’t handle.

“With some of the studies that have been done, we could have 5,000 people visit us in one weekend,” said Butts. “Today our traffic count shows there’s around 50.”

Campbell Gardett lives in Mackay, and he agrees with Butts.

“Custer County is a third-world infrastructure and isn’t ready for this,” he said.

Butts said the road from Mackay to the trail head of the Boulder White Clouds is too small and narrow to handle that many tourists.

“Our Road and Bridge superintendent said to acquire easements and start roads from the ground up would cost, in today’s oil prices, $1 million to $1.5 million per mile,” said Butts.

The bulk of the Boulder White Clouds lies in Custer County.

Proponents of the monument designation say federal money will come.

“A national monument or wilderness designation would bring in some added resources,” said Rick Johnson, executive director of the Idaho Conservation League.

Custer County Commissioner Lin Hintze says, “Show me the money!”

Hintze has been a commissioner for 20 years.

“I’m the old man on the commission. I’ve watched wilderness come in, Sawtooth National Recreation Area come in, I’ve watched roadless come in. All of which the organizations say, ‘This will be an economic base for Custer County.’ It has not!” Hintze said.

On the other side of the debate, or the mountain, you’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone in Blaine County who doesn’t want a monument designation.

“First and foremost, it’s unfinished business in Idaho,” said Johnson.

Johnson has worked with Congressman Mike Simpson for 10 years to get a wilderness bill passed to protect the Boulder White Clouds. It’s called, CEIDRA, and it’s still in committee.

“I’d like to see that bill pass,” said Johnson. ” My optimism on whether Congress can rise to the challenge is very low, quite frankly. So that’s what I would prefer. But I’d be foolish not to be looking at the strategic opportunity that is presented by a national monument.”

There’s the problem. A lot of people can support the CEIDRA wilderness bill, but will it ever get passed?

“There’s a radical center in politics that is not too functional these days,” said Johnson. “There’s a center where people’s business should be done, but it isn’t getting there.”

So is a monument designation better than not fully protecting the Boulder White Clouds with a congressional bill?

Patrick Seefried doesn’t think so.

“It’s already managed well,” the Mackay resident said. “Much of the Boulder White Clouds is already protected by the Sawtooth National Recreation Act, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Forest Service. Making it a national monument would add another layer of government over the three. We’re worried the forest service, BLM and SNRA already work together well. Putting another layer of government might disrupt that.”

“Part of it is SNRA. Part of it is BLM, part of it is Salmon-Challis National Forest,” said Johnson. “It needs greater direction. It needs great coherence. It’s a big landscape and should have overriding direction to steer it into the next century.”

“We’ve got two thirds left of the East Fork watershed that’s really got no protection at this point,” said Kahle Becker, a member of Sportsmen For Boulder White Clouds Monument. “We think the resource is too valuable to be left to chance.’

“It’s the highest spawning habitat for salmon and steelhead found anywhere in the world and we need to protect it,” said Michael Gibson with Sportsmen For Boulder White Clouds Monument. “I think the Boulder White Clouds is really the crown jewel of central Idaho, and it deserves protection and perpetuity,” something these sportsmen feel cannot be handled by a wilderness bill through Congress.

“Well, I think back in D.C., there’s definitely concern that Congress can’t pass wilderness bills right now. They have been unable to pass any kind of significant legislation that protects our public lands,” says Gibson. “The Antiquities Act gives the administration the authority to make this a monument.”

“The one thing I can tell you as an advocate for the monument, we’re building everything we are doing in our advocacy for the monument to mirror Mr. Simpson’s bill,” said Johnson.

Simpson said that’s all well and good, but, “While you’d like to think they’d (Congress) listen to local people on the national monument, the reality is they don’t have to.”

And that’s what worried the congressman most. No lawmaker has worked harder to protect the Boulder White Clouds, and he said the work should be done by Congress.

“The difference is you put something in a statute, that’s what it is. You put something in a monument, there are certain things you can’t do in a monument. You can’t hunt in a monument,” said Simpson.

He adds the designation might allow for hunting, but there’s no guarantee. The designation comes first, the management plan comes second.

“So there are some restrictions in the monuments that would affect us that wouldn’t affect us if we actually pass a wilderness bill designed by Idahoans,” he said.

“I would prefer Congress do it,” said Johnson. ” There’s a clarity and transparency to that. There’s a bill that’s been worked on by Idahoans for Idahoans for 10 years.”

“I would rather have a plan that is our bill that we’ve worked out in Idaho and actually have it pass Congress,” said Simpson.

“This is a decision that should be made in Congress,” says Mackay resident Campbell Gardett. “Where they can bring people together and compare different interests, weigh the benefits and produce something that balances, that preserves multiple use and environmental protection and gives these counties some economic help.”

“Get together, get a bill, do the process, and do a good job,” advised Campbell to Congress. “If the administration acts now to make a national monument designation, shame on them. But if our delegation fails to act later, shame on them.”

Simpson says next year there will be a new chairman of the resources committee from Utah. Simpson says he may be more compelled to get the Boulder White Clouds wilderness bill out of committee and to the floor.

“I’ll tell you one thing,” said Simpson. “Come next year, if we’re sitting here at this time, one of two things will have happened. It’ll be a national monument or a wilderness area.”

In the general election Nov. 4, folks in Custer County will be able to cast an advisory vote on the national monument status for the Boulder White Clouds.