President set to sign wilderness bill Friday

A bill to protect the largest wilderness area in the lower 48 is scheduled to be signed by the President on Friday.

The U-S Senate passed the bill protecting 275,000 acres in central Idaho known as the Boulder-White Clouds.

The plan creates three new wilderness areas.

It was spearheaded by Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson and has been years in the making.

Simpson said this wouldn’t have happened without the help from Idaho Senator Jim Risch and the support from other stake-holders.

He said at times he was skeptical on a good outcome.

“There were probably a few times I thought this wasn’t going to happen. I always knew we were going to keep pushing it until we got it done. And then the administration decided a National Monument in the area.”

Simpson was heading to Washington, D.C. Thursday to meet with President Obama tomorrow morning to sign the bill into law.