Bonner County, Idaho voters this week rejected a proposed wilderness area in north Idaho.
The vote was 5672 to 4831 against the proposed 13 thousand acre Scotchman Peak wilderness area.
Although the vote was only advisory, Republican US senator Jim Risch now says he will not reintroduce legislation that would create the wilderness area. He had previously introduced such legislation in 2016. At that time, he held public hearings in the region and said it appeared most people supported the idea of wilderness designation.
Friends of Scotchman Peak Wilderness Executive director Phil Hough says despite Risch pulling his support, his group’s efforts will continue.
“What is politically possible today may change tomorrow, as things change and support grows. We’ve been working with a community of supporters for 13 years and we thought we were there, but clearly there’s more work to be down, and were going to continue to work on growing a community of supporters that represent a diverse set of backgrounds and interests and hope that the time will be right for senator Risch or someone form the Idaho delegation to introduce a bill,” said Hough.
He adds the proposed area is actually very moderate in size.
“So the amount of acreage put into wilderness is actually a very small fraction of national forest, and in that sense, one would hope that as a community we would value wilderness and where is it best sited, that the Scotchman peak seems like an obvious candidate and one where you can have wilderness, and also have room for all the other activities that the forest can provide, like responsible off highway vehicle recreation, to mining and grazing and timber production, and in this case, the Scotchman peak wilderness,” he said.
The vote was proposed by Bonner County commissioners, who said they wanted to determine how many people in the region actually supported the proposal.
