by Rocky Barker
Forget the parlor game about which person
President Barack Obama will pick as his Interior secretary or other
posts that have dramatic impacts on Idaho, such as the Department of
Energy.
The person picked, while important, is not as critical as
the president’s agenda for the region beyond the 100th Meridian. During
his first term, Obama was largely conciliatory with leaders in the West.
His Interior secretary, Ken Salazar, did not shove any major initiatives down the throats of Western states.
Western
Republicans, including Idaho Gov. Butch Otter, protested loudly over
Salazar’s “wild lands” policy, which was aimed at managing roadless
areas controlled by the Bureau of Land Management. But Obama didn’t
fight back when Congress put a hold on it; he wasn’t looking for a
fight.
Salazar aggressively pushed the delisting of wolves from
Day One and did not oppose the bill that delisted them, backed by
Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana. Without that bill, Tester most
likely would have lost to Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg. Tester’s
election was more important politically to Obama than pleasing wildlife
advocates.
That won’t change in the second term. For the first time, Democrats appear to have a chance to make major gains across the West.
“They’re
not going to do something to make a Jon Tester or a Harry Reid go
crazy,” said Idaho Conservation League Executive Director Rick Johnson,
who is in Washington for Obama’s inauguration.
Climate change will remain the major environmental issue on Obama’s plate...
The harder issue ahead for farmers, hunters and other westerners is
private lands. Since 1985, farm bills have included billions of dollars
for conservation programs — such as the conservation reserve program
that paid farmers to rest their land in grass instead of grow crops.
Up
to 42 million acres of private land has been turned into habitat for
ducks, upland birds and many other species of wildlife, but that could
be coming to an end because of major changes in government and the farm
economy.
“This perfect storm of collapsing budgets and
extraordinary commodity prices is destroying 30 years of conservation
programs,” said Tom France, National Wildlife Federation regional
director in Missoula, Mont...
There will still be issues such as sage grouse listing, power lines, salmon and grizzly bears.
These aren’t War on the West issues.
I'm not sure about that "keep" in the title.
Personally, I've been worried about just the opposite. With no re-election concerns and Salazar leaving, I figured we might be in for a no-holds-barred War On The West.
Years back Barker and I attended a PERC conference and I found him to be a thoughtful guy. Let's hope he's right and my concerns are unfounded.
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
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