08/15/06 Co-operative conservation

Mention ESA or NEPA to some people and it sends the hair up on the back of their necks. There are others who say the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act have made cooperative conservation work. Last week at a Spokane listening session many Idahoans gave their opinions. Owen Squires who represented the Idaho AFL-CIO and pulp and paper workers says to have cooperation ESA and NEPA have to be changed. SQUIRES "There are 50 thousand unemployed timber workers in the West alone. So we know what happens when you don't cooperate and there's a need to come together. And it can be done with the help I believe of the federal authorities and state authorities and everybody involved." Tom Crimmins, a member of the north Idaho BLM Resource Advisory Council agrees with Owens call for change, but he says other laws like the Clean Water Act need to be included. CRIMMINS "At this point they're being used not necessarily to recover species; we've heard that over and over, they're being used to control land and to control management." One of those doing the listening in Spokane was Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott