North Idaho up in arms over caribou habitat proposal

January 13, 2012

By Mike Weland In late November, with little to no fanfare, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made public an intricately detailed proposal to set aside more than 600 square miles of the Selkirk Mountains in North Idaho and eastern Washington as habitat critical to the Selkirk Mountain Caribou. People who were interested or who might be impacted were quietly told that they had until January 30 to comment so that their interests might be taken into account before the proposed plan became federal law. Until Monday night, there was little fanfare regarding the proposal, though county commissioners and the Kootenai Valley Resource Initiative, a quiet little group that has been cited at all levels of government as the ideal when it comes to local people working to have a voice in big matters, have been hard at work to make sure that decision makers in Washington, D.C., hear our collective voice loud and clear. Not long after the federal proposal was announced, Bonner County commissioners made headlines by passing a resolution demanding that the USFWS coordinate with them and calling on commissioners from the other four North Idaho counties join with them. In Boundary County, commissioners didn't make headlines, but they didn't sit idle, either. They conferred with their counterparts in other counties, studied the arcane 50-plus page proposal published in the Federal Register, and enlisted KVRI to gather the facts and information they'll need to become involved in the process effectively. The KVRI, as they do each month, held an informational meeting Monday evening, January 9, and invited representatives from the USFWS to explain to them and their guests the details of that proposal and what it might mean to the people and businesses of Boundary County. According to those in attendance, those representatives were unprepared for the greeting they got. A few days prior to the meeting, social media sites like Facebook lit up with the urgent message that "Idaho Fish and Game" was proposing to "shut down hunting" on all those lands west of Highway 95. Catching wind of the growing sentiment, KVRI booked the bingo room at the Kootenai River Inn and changed the location of their meeting, normally held in the Extension Office meeting room. It was a good thing they did, as more than 150 people, mostly irate, filled the room to standing-room-only capacity, and despite encouragement to remain calm and abide the organization's primary goal of learning the facts and the methods required to effectively participate in the process, peppered the people asked to present those facts with invictive. "For years," said KVRI member Patty Perry, representing the Kootenai Tribe, "the people and governments of this county fought federal regulation loudly and ineffectively. We learned that there had to be a better way, because we kept losing." Every local government agency fought each battle independently, and their arguments, while valid, were scattered, and usually fell on deaf federal ears. The KVRI was founded as a way to bring the many disparate voices of Boundary County together, providing a vehicle by which Boundary County's disparate agencies can present, when possible, a more united front. "We don't agree on everything," Perry said, "and it's not our intent that we do so. Our goal is to cut through all the emotion surrounding an issue, glean the facts, and learn how we can take part in the process so that each of our voices will be listended to by the people who matter." Since it's founding, the KVRI has been held up as an example of how local people, organizations and governments can effectively work "with the system," both state and federal, and it's been lauded by Idaho governor Butch Otter, Idaho Senator Shawn Keough, former Senator Larry Craig and many more, and looked to as a framework to other states as to how local interests can be heard and taken into account by those elected to make the decisions. "The days of expressing anger and outrage never worked very well," Perry said, "Rage and anger are easily overlooked by the people who are in position to make decisions. While we've not won every battle, the KVRI has definitely influenced decisions made about this place we live in, and our goal is to keep up the dialogue and foster cooperation instead of antagonism." While they've been quiet, Boundary County Commissioners have been able to prompt the USFWS to acknowledge the need for public participation and public hearings, at which the decision-makers might hear the voices of those who will be affected and argument from all sides of the issue. Commissioners, with the support of the KVRI, are working to firm up an extension to the January 30 deadline by which all interested parties may provide input. When everything is in place, Boundary County Commissioners assure, they will annonce to the world the dates and times of those public hearings, during which those who have something to say will be afforded the opportunity, and so that everyone, no matter where you might stand on the proposal, might participate. In the meantime, they suggest, it would be beneficial if those who are interested in this matter take time to read the proposal, once again available here, as published in the Federal Register. As the KVRI has proved many times since it was formed, it's well considered fact, presented in the proper fourm and on time, and not emotion ranted in the heat of the moment, that people listen to. And like 'em or not, those in federal government are people.