Protests Prompt BLM
To Extend Comment

BOISE, Idaho —(AP)— Strong criticism of plans for restricting use of federal land in Idaho’s Owyhee County has prompted the Bureau of Land Management to allow more time for public comment.

Stockmen, off-road vehicle enthusiasts and others packed meetings in Murphy, Boise and Jordan Valley, Ore., to oppose portions of the draft Owyhee Resource Area Management Plan.

A fire marshal halted the final meeting in Boise when a crowd of 600 to 800 people showed up in a hall that holds fewer than 300.

The plan calls for reducing grazing by 35 percent and limiting off-road vehicles on 1.3 million acres of public land along the southwest corner of the state.

Idaho's congressional delegation, led by Rep. Helen Chenoweth, asked the BLM to extend the comment period. Now people will have until June 3 to express their views on the plan. The period had been scheduled to end with last week's hearing.

"We felt it was extremely important that the public be given an opportunity to understand the elements of the plan without being rushed by a fast-approaching deadline to get their comments in," Chenoweth said.

In addition, the agency decided to print and distribute 1000 more copies of the three-volume, 1200 page document.

Owyhee area manager Jay Carlson was berated last month by ranchers in Murphy for telling them they could not comment intelligently on the plan without reading it, and then saying he did not have any copies for them.

"The proposed management plan was far more than one or two pages," Chenoweth said.

"People need to have a chance to really look at the proposal to determine how it might affect their specific interests."