OVERVIEW

        Central Idaho

        Economic Development &

           Recreation Act

> Weakening protections for the nation’s public lands and waters

> Damaging the Sawtooth National Recreation Area

Warm Springs Creek with Castle Peak in background - Sawtooth National Recreation Area.  CIEDRA would change the purpose, and management for the eastern half of the Sawtooth NRA.

Congress established the 756,000-acre Sawtooth NRA with solid conservation purposes:

In order to assure the preservation and protection of the natural, scenic, historic, pastoral, and fish and wildlife values and to provide for the enhancement of the recreational values associated therewith, the Sawtooth National Recreation Area is hereby established.  [16 U.S.C.A. § 460aa]

CIEDRA changes the purpose of the 370,000 acres in the eastern half of the Sawtooth NRA.  Part of those lands would be formally designated as wilderness (albeit with weakened protections).  However, the rest of that portion of the Sawtooth NRA, packaged with additional Forest Service and BLM lands (totaling some 550,000 acres), would become the “Boulder White Clouds Management Area would Congressionally define the purpose as providing for motorized recreation:

[i]t is the purpose of this title to provide that motorized use of such lands shall be allowed in accordance with travel maps for the federal lands within the perimeter as shown on the maps entitled -  ‘‘CIEDRA: USFS and BLM Travel Plan’’ and ‘‘CIEDRA:     USFS and BLM Winter Travel Plan’’ and dated November 15, 2006.

  (CIEDRA Section 301)

When future conflicts arise between motorized recreation and the Sawtooth NRA’s conservation purposes, motorized recreation will prevail.

Confluence of Valley Creek and Salmon River between Stanley and Lower Stanley.  CIEDRA would give away public lands shown in foreground for development.

CIEDRA would give away 162 acres of public lands in the Sawtooth NRA that include elk wintering grounds and salmon waters near Stanley, Idaho.  Altogether, it would give away over 5,000 acres of federal land to local government and developers for free.

Taxpayers have already spent $65 million to create and protect the SNRA, an icon among America’s western landscapes.   CIEDRA sets a precedent of dismantling protections on public land.

Salmon spawning, Sawtooth NRA.

In 2000, the Idaho Supreme Court stripped the Sawtooth NRA of its protections for water.  What this means is that Idaho is free to continuing to issue new water rights, and Idaho will continue to do so.

CIEDRA should protect water and reassert in-stream flow protections.  Instead, the bill expressly denies a federal water right for the wilderness areas, and is completely silent as to the new Boulder White Clouds Management Area where water development will likely occur.  

Mountain Goats and Trail Damage from Motorized Recreation Use - Sawtooth National Recreation Area

CIEDRA would dismantle the conservation purposes of the Sawtooth NRA by establishing a 'no net loss' policy for motorized trails -- if a trail is closed due to environmental damage or any other reason, equivalent new mileage must be opened up elsewhere.  Motorized vehicles harass wildlife, create erosion, introduce invasive noxious weeds, and take away the solitude of hunters, hikers, and horseback riders who seek to enjoy the natural quiet and to view wildlife. The decision whether to open or close an area should be in the hands of professional land managers on the ground, not mandated under federal legislation.

   Support Wilderness - Oppose CIEDRA.   We can do better.