The goal was to form a group to manage Idaho’s South
Fork of the Snake River watershed. But when environmentalists and
locals met on the issue last month, things turned sour fast.
Hostilities began after a citizens’ group, led by Republican state
legislators JoAn Wood and Cameron Wheeler, packed the meeting in
Ririe and voted to form a Watershed Council without any
representation of area environmental
activists.
Big mistake. Now, members of the new
council realize they have little credibility without environmental
representation. But the activists, outraged at their treatment,
aren’t going back without an apology.
What
prompted the dispute was tension between local people who live
within the watershed and environmentalists from the Idaho Snake
River region who have organized to protect the area from industrial
and agricultural pollution. When a vote was called, the activists
were outnumbered and “physically intimidated,” said Marv Hoyt, a
local resident and Greater Yellowstone Coalition member. He said he
was told to “shut up” when he tried to make a
point.
Rep. Wood denied the charge. “We followed
strict parliamentary procedure,” she
said.
Meanwhile, the council has decided to
become a watershed advisory group, which has power to set pollution
levels for the watershed. But the group needs environmental
representation to satisfy federal regulation, and activists have
been slow to volunteer. “We’re in a cooling-off process right now,”
says Jon Ochi, an Idaho Falls environmentalist. “It will take some
time to rebuild the trust.”
*Jamie
Murray
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Rumble in the watershed.
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