Protect Critical Habitat for Bull Trout

There’s still  time to support critical habitat protections for bull trout. According to Idaho Rivers United, almost 10,000 miles of rivers and 200,000 acres of lakes and reservoirs across Idaho are at stake. Here are some more details to help craft your comments.

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What We’re Reading

Winter never arrived but spring to be delayed this week? While we’re waiting here’s what we’re reading:

Obama to create new National Monuments?  Here’s a list of possibilities. — New West

Scientific fact: “conservation funding and reform-minded zoning decrease per capita open space loss.” — PloSOne

Idaho facing anniversary of a big fire in a summer of big fire? — Idaho Statesman

Backcountry logging won’t solve beetle problems. — Snake River Dispatches

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“Gentlemen, we have not accomplished a lot today.”

Commissioner Rick Currie in Comp Plan deliberations 3/2/2010 -- In fairness, he is NOT actually asleep.

Today, Board of County Commissioners Chairman Rick Currie lashed back at the increasing wave of criticism over the long slow failure to make progress on Kootenai County’s comprehensive plan. Prior to the start of today’s meeting, Currie complained about “misinformation” being spread by “the powers that be.”

In response to a particularly toughly-worded opinion piece by former Planning Commissioner Kathlene Kolts complaining about a lack of engagement in the process by two of the three commissioners, Commissioner Currie said that the Board gave “direction” to the Planning Commission “a number of times.” but then Currie admitted that he “didn’t completely read” the previous drafts of the plan, but had only “scanned” them.

Then the long slow failure continued.  At the meeting’s end, Chairman Currie noted, “Gentlemen, we have not accomplished a lot today.” Indeed, attendees can report Currie’s statement as an understatement for today’s progress on the comp plan. In the 90 minute meeting, the Commissioners made no decisions whatsoever, and failed to even turn a single page in their line-by-line deliberations of the draft comp plan.

So now, after nine months of deliberations, the conservation community still has no idea whether these commissioners are committed to protecting natural resources and rural communities. The building community has no idea where they are headed or when they are going to get there. And the broader citizenry is wondering where their leadership is.

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