In a blog he writes for the Colorado-based High Country News, Boise State University professor John Freemuth recently suggested it’s time to rename Mount Heyburn, arguably Idaho’s most majestic peak. “The early Forest Service ... had its enemies,’’ said Freemuth, who teaches political science and public policy. “One of them, Sen. (Weldon) Heyburn of Idaho, tried to defund the new agency and have it abolished; it was that ‘damn federal government’ standing in the way of Heyburn and his cronies... “It is simply amazing, then, that a walk around or boat ride on Redfish Lake ... reveals Mount Heyburn in the Sawtooth Mountain range, one of the Forest Service’s most proud and important places. Shouldn’t this mountain have a name more suited to someone who did something to protect the Sawtooths and at least dealt honorably with the agency that manages them? It is time to start the process to change the name of this peak.” In nine years on Capitol Hill, the senator opposed every one of President Theodore Roosevelt’s initiatives to protect public lands. And after Roosevelt left the White House, Heyburn came close to wrecking the agency that now manages 21.4 million acres of Idaho land...more
Hell, they should name the whole state after him.
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