5-13 IAN Otter on Range

 Eastern politicians making policy on the West.

You hear lots of stories about Idaho’s representatives in Washington fighting battles with the establishment. I had a discussion with Governor Otter the other day and he told me a clever way he has to change people’s perspectives: “I remember on one of my congressional rides, we got some folks to come out from Congress because I asked these guys, do you know which are voting on? This guy from Maryland didn’t have any idea. I said you guys are killing us with some of these crazy laws you’re passing. He came out and rolled with us and we showed him some of that chemical crossed, and when we broke it up, he could see the good Earth underneath just waiting for the water that was running off into the riparian areas, that’s the only place that there was grass. So where do the cows go? They go to the riparian area and they destroy the riparian area or disturbance sufficiently enough that the Bull Trout and other animals that survived on the riparian area and he was astounded. And we rode along through that roadless area for quite a while and it was just like asphalt. We didn’t see a songbird we didn’t even see a coyote. Then all of a sudden we cross this drift fence and we go with the grasses just about this high and just as we rounded this little hill there was a herd of deer that ran off and all of a sudden you heard songbirds and everything and he said what’s this area and I said this is multiple use managed and boy did it turn him around.