Lands bill lassoes longtime foes

Like a long, slow-moving wagon train, an omnibus lands bill is poised to finally clear Congress this week, with Republican senators and Western outfitters riding alongside the environmental lobby they have so often fought in the past. The giant package is nearly 170 bills in one, a uniquely American mosaic covering millions of acres of wilderness, water settlements and land exchanges that have been years in the making. In this time of self-doubt and economic stress, it’s also a primer on the nation’s rich heritage: Revolutionary War battlefields, historic inventors and explorers, and the natural wonders of Mount Hood and the Copper Salmon Wilderness in Oregon. Each wagon carries its own story, but the most consistent theme is a greater emphasis on home-grown, bottoms-up settlements in the West, where lands policy has so long been dominated by swings to the right and left at the top in Washington. “This bill was never the brainchild of any national organization,” Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) told POLITICO. “It’s more a grass-roots aggregation of bills that represent a lot of years of work in individual states. Many of the most pro-environment provisions are sponsored by Republicans.” “Balance” is the new watchword. And more than in the past, sportsman groups such as Trout Unlimited have stepped forward and brought their brand of “hook and bullet” organizing that can bring in more Republican, often small-business support. “It’s more a sportsman bill than a Sierra Club bill,” one Democratic aide said, looking back...POLITICO