Finally, the remote Owyhee Canyonlands south of Boise are going to be protected as Wilderness. I might be gloating
but this area is one of the most if not the most spectacular collections of deep canyonlands and wild and scenic rivers on this continent, and also on planet Earth. Thankfully this area does not have cheesy national park status because it is worthy of Wilderness protection. This area also qualifies as a World Heritiage Site because of the scenery, canyons, mahogany forests, in- tact desert ecosystem, some of the oldest evidence of human occupation in North America, and the largest known numbers of California Bighorn Sheep in North America.
315
more miles of Idaho rivers designated Wild & Scenic in addition to the hundreds of miles we already have, pretty awesome.
not my pic but from the Statesman
http://www.idahostatesman.com/eyepie...ry/709925.html
The House approved a sweeping lands bill that includes Owyhees Canyonland wilderness and Wild Rivers protection that have been more than seven years in the making. It now only needs the signature of President Barack Obama to become law.
The bill passed 285-140.
The Owyhees bill would set aside 517,000 acres as wilderness, and designate 315 miles of wild and scenic rivers in Owyhee County. The bill also would authorize a cultural site protection plan prepared by the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes to pay for tribal rangers to patrol and protect one of the largest unprotected acreages of cultural and religious sites in the lower 48 states in Owyhee County.