U.S. Forest Service, BLM chiefs will speak in Boise

The director of the Bureau of Land Management and the chief of the U.S. Forest Service will headline a conference May 1 titled "Life in the West: People, Land, Water and Wildlife in a Changing Economy." The Andrus Center for Public Policy will convene the conference co-sponsored by the Foundation for Rocky Mountain Elk and the Idaho Statesman. Former Secretary of the Interior and Idaho Gov. Cecil D. Andrus, the chairman of the Andrus Center for Public Policy, said Thursday that the one-day event will allow Idahoans and others in the West to hear directly about the agency's agendas from BLM Director Bob Abbey and Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell. "Even in a down economy, the American West - Idaho included - is a growing, changing place," Andrus said. "Whether we are talking about the challenges presented by expanding urban areas, the tremendous energy development taking place across the West or the re-introduction of wolves, we face many complicated and contentious issues."...more