Last week we (Phil Hough, Brad Smith and Kate McAlister) travelled to Washington DC to meet with the Senators and Congressmen from Idaho and Montana. There is a lot in interest from them all in the recent resolutions, letters and edtorials calling upon congress to take action.
Jim Risch was especially supportive during our meeting with him, asking us to come back and talk with him again after the Boulder White Clouds bill is done.
On Thursday at the Senate Hearing for the Boulder White Clouds, he showed up as a strong supporter of that bill and even waxed elegantly about the place, saying that: “….this is one of the most remarkable places in the world. You can travel all over the world but you will always remember your trip to the Boulder White Clouds, it is truly unique.”
At the very end of the hearing he departed from the BWC subject and had this to say about the Scotchman Peaks:
“For those of you who are interested in looking to the future. Here in the audience today we have people representing the Scotchman’s Peak area of north Idaho. Another, probably the next, candidate in Idaho. It may be in my 4th or 5th term in this job, I don’t know. (Chuckle) I hope you don’t have to wait that long, but there is no doubt that there will be movement. And they are, I wanted to compliment them right now. They have seen and picked up on the collaborative method by which these public lands issues have been resolved in Idaho. They have been moving forward in that regard. They are making substantial progress and, indeed, they have an impressive list of people who are supporting that work in that regard and so this committee will in all likelie-hood in the future be seeing them.”
If you would like to listen to it yourself, click here for a link to the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands May 21, 2015 Hearing.
If you want to zero in on the Scotchman Peaks part start at 1:17:30. It lasts one minute. It’s worth listing to!
If you want to pick up Jim’s highest praises for the BWC followed by his Scotchman Peaks statements go to the 1:13:25 mark.
If you are a Wilderness Policy “wonk”, You can also watch the whole hearing from the beginning if you are really interested – it’s an hour 20 minutes. Make some popcorn, save some for the last minute.
