Any wilderness bill must be led by Wyoming delegation
Casper Star Tribune - April 25, 2007
Editorial
 

Two Eastern lawmakers are sponsoring a wilderness bill that would have a tremendous effect on Wyoming.

It's a wrong-headed move that should be countered by a measure sponsored by the state's congressional delegation to protect Wyoming's interests.

The proposed Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act, touted by representatives from New York and Connecticut, would designate as wilderness 23 million public areas in five Western states. It includes 5 million acres in Wyoming, or about 8 percent of the state's land area.

It would do all this without any input from the residents of local communities, who depend on these resources for both work and recreation. It's a top-down approach from Washington, D.C., that arrogantly declares people representing Eastern metropolitan areas know what's best for Wyoming and other northern Rockies states.

The wilderness designation generally prohibits timber harvesting and permanent roads, structures and facilities. In most cases,  hunting, fishing and other recreational activities are allowed.

Similar bills have been offered and rejected in previous sessions, but the 2007 version has a better chance of success. Its co-sponsors include the new Democratic chairmen of the House Natural Resources Committee and the subcommittee htat would hold hearings on the bill. That puts our all-GOP delegation at a distinct disadvantage.

It's important to remember that the last time Congress seriously considered a wilderness bill approaching this magnitude, it was initially fought by then - Sens. Alan Simpson and Malcolm Wallop and then-Rep. Dick Cheney. But this trio successfully amended the legislation to the point where it was compatible with Wyoming's interests and could be supported by both Republican and Democratic federal lawmakers.

The result was the Wyoming Wilderness Act of 1984, which designated an additional 910,000 acres as wilderness, and included 180,500 acres in wilderness as wilderness study areas across the state. This recognition that Wyoming has many special places that should be preserved has helped protect Cloud Peak in the Bighorns; Savage Run, Platte River, Encampment River and Huston Park in the Medicine Bow; the Absaroka-Beartooth, Fitzpatrick, Popo Agie and Washakie in the Shoshone; Teton and Gros Ventre in the Bridger-Teton; and Jedediah Smith and Winnegar Hole in the Targhee.

Twenty-three years after the bill was signed into law by then-President Reagan, it's probably time to consider whether other areas of Wyoming should be designated as wilderness.

These include several "study areas" in the Bighorn and Shoshone national forests. Adobe Town has also received significant public support for a wilderness designation.

But any new wilderness bill must include local input and be driven by the recommendations of Wyoming's delegation. Anything less is unacceptable.

vice President Cheney, in a 2000 PBS interview, called the Wyoming Wilderness Act "one of my proudest achievements as a member of congress. {...} We set aside a part of Wyoming, nearly a million acres of wilderness that ought to be separate and not developed. We think that was important."