This week, the Sierra Club and lands activists across the country scored a major win when the U.S. Senate unanimously joined the House of Representatives in passing a bill that designates the Boulder–White Clouds in Idaho as our nation's newest wilderness area. The bill protects 275,000 acres at the heart of what, up until now, has been one of the largest unprotected roadless areas left in the lower 48. The director of the Sierra Club's Idaho Chapter, Zachary Waterman, and longtime chapter leader Edwina Allen have been at the forefront of the push to protect this wild landscape for decades.
Wilderness allows the highest form of protection, and this is what we have long wanted to ultimately see for the area. However, although the president can exercise executive authority to protect areas as national monuments through the Antiquities Act, only Congress has the power to designate wilderness. After years of stalled legislation, the Sierra Club and our partners pivoted toward a monument designation for Boulder–White Clouds. Ultimately, it was the likelihood of the area gaining national monument status that finally prompted a clean wilderness bill to break through the gridlock of the Republican-controlled Congress.
For anyone who care about wild lands, this is an enormous moment that truly shows how bipartisan land protection can work. But it's also a moment that only came about because of the tireless work of Sierra Club activists working on the ground for decades, steadily building support and political momentum. President Obama has now shown that he is willing to act to protect lands as national monuments, and Congress has shown that, when they are willing to work together, they too can protect our treasured landscapes.
Thank your members of Congress today for protecting Boulder–White Clouds.