Agency imposes new rules for Birds of Prey area

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Federal land managers are imposing a ban on paintball warfare and rock climbing in and around a raptor sanctuary along the Snake River canyon south of Boise.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced the new rules Monday for the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey area. Agency officials have been crafting the rules for several years in hopes of better protecting raptor habitat and improving public safety in the area. New rules prohibit rock climbing and rappelling in the canyon within the sanctuary boundaries to protect 16 species of raptors that nest along the rock walls. Paintball guns have also been outlawed inside the area and within a quarter-mile of the boundary. New restrictions have also been implemented for campfires. Offenders could be fined or sentenced to prison.

Wild Land Fires – Forest and Range land fires are different in Idaho  Rocky Barker, May 2013

History alone is enough reason to make the Boulder-White Cloud Mountains a national monument, speakers at Redfish Lodge said Saturday.

Cecil Andrus’ fight to stop a molybdenum mine at Castle Peak in 1970 got him elected governor and changed conservation politics in the West, said Idaho Conservation League Director Rick Johnson. He rattled off historic mining sites, unique botanical resources and fish and wildlife values that support the bid to make the entire Boulder-White Clouds worthy of monument status.

Should the entire Sawtooth National Recreation Area be included in the designation?

Red Fish Lake

Red Fish Lake

By ROCKY BARKER — June 4, 2013

Backers of a proposed national monument for the Boulder and White Cloud mountains east of Stanley and north of Sun Valley want to make sure it’s the right size and has the right federal agency to give the region the focused “showcase management” it deserves.

But as the Obama administration undertakes a review of a possible monument designation, just how much of the 500,000-acre road-less area in central Idaho would be included in the proposed monument and how it would be managed remain open questions.

In a visit to Boise last month, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack pointed to Chimney Rock, a 4,700-acre archeological site in the San Juan National Forest in Colorado designated by Obama as a monument, as a model for decision-making that involves all stakeholders. Sawtooth National Forest Supervisor Becky Nourse pointed to Misty Fjords National Monument in Alaska as an example of how the U.S. Forest Service has addressed monument-management issues.  Read More