06/16/06 Cooperative conservation, part two

In Spokane last week about 180 people spoke out at a listening session on cooperative conservation. Several were from Idaho and so was one of the federal officials on hand to listen. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne was joined by Environmental Protection Agency administrator Stephen Johnson for the first of what will be 24 such listening sessions. KEMPTHORNE "One of the things that the President has made very clear is that the old environmental atmosphere of pitting one group against the other is not the way to go. It's to find that consensus by having a good discourse in this type of setting I think is very beneficial." The listening sessions focus on five basic questions to find out what Americans think about the federal government's role in protecting habitat, species and the environment. KEMPTHORNE "Citizen stewards will be able to tell us what works, just as importantly to tell us what doesn't work in their opinion." As governor Kempthorne often criticized the Washington bureaucracy for its inefficiencies. KEMPTHORNE "I don't believe Washington DC has all the answer. Neither does the President." Secretaries of agriculture and commerce are among the other cabinet level officials who will do the listening at some of the other 23 cooperative conservation sessions. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott