Boise – Idaho Senator Mike Crapo will attend a meeting of the work group members of the Owyhee Initiative beginning at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow, Friday, October 22nd at the Owyhee County Courthouse in Murphy. Members of the work group are expected to vote on draft proposals that could become legislation aimed at protecting culture and employment in Owyhee County as well as designating wilderness and offering direction for future land management decisions.
The vote comes after three years of effort by the work group which began in the aftermath of a near-designation of an Owyhee Canyonlands National Monument by a presidential executive order under the Clinton Administration. Crapo was asked by Owyhee County Commissioners to oversee and participate in the new collaborative process. To date, more than a dozen interest groups from ranchers to recreationalists to conservationists have been involved in the drafting process. Tomorrow’s discussions may also lead to a vote of the county commissioners.
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