Bighorn Sheep and the Big Mess

Somehow Dickens seems apt: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

On one hand, Idaho citizens came together and helped craft an unprecedented collaborative vision for conservation in the Owyhee Canyonlands. With Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) standing beside him, I was in the White House and watched President Obama sign the bill validating years of collaborative work in Idaho. Sen. Crapo has rightfully described this effort as a model for the future of the West, where we sit around a table with our neighbors and craft homegrown solutions rather than have them imposed on us.

Back home, hours before three events to celebrate the Owyhee legislation, the Idaho Legislature held a hearing on bighorn sheep. In a raw and emotional manner, they summarily dismissed collaboration and the folks already working together to address the conflict. They also demonstrated contempt for what we represent, actually challenged our right to appear before the legislative hearing, and by all indications, made us scapegoat for all the changes they are troubled by in Idaho today. One thoughtful observer called the explosive hearing a “death rattle of the Old West.”

Wallace Stegner, the great observer of the land we all call home, once wrote that the West will have reached its potential when we “create a society to match the scenery.” Based on what we’ve seen in a short window here, we’re making progress but have a long way to go.

When President Obama signed the Omnibus Public Land bill on March 29, we not only saw the first Idaho wilderness bill in 29 years become law, we saw confirmation that bottom-up, grassroots-based bills from across the West can move forward with local, bipartisan support. Many of the bills in the package represented years of work, created on the ground by diverse interests who know the land best. Many were sponsored by western Republicans.

Many of us believe it is from such difficult collaborative work, also seen in Idaho in the Boulder-White Clouds legislation sponsored by Reps. Mike Simpson (R-ID) and Walt Minnick (D-ID), that we will see our region create a society worthy of the majestic landscape in which we live, work, and base our hope for the future.

But there is still much to overcome. In Washington, DC, some oppose the compromises needed to create collaborative solutions that nevertheless have strong majority support from people and interests in the affected region. There is a tough balance between applying the creativity needed for consensus with issues of national concern.

Something else that must be overcome is a tiresome frontier mentality of certain western lawmakers that in Idaho we have now passed a law that pushes aside collaboration and directs our Fish and Game Department to shoot every bighorn sheep that sets foot in any public land allotment where domestic sheep are permitted to graze.

In places like the Owyhee Canyonlands and Boulder-White Clouds, the West is making progress creating a conservation vision that unites the disparate interests of our region, but as the Idaho Legislature so clearly reminded us, we have a long, long way to go.