Despite pressure from Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus not to
testify against the proposed Owyhee Canyon bombing range, both the
Idaho Fish and Game Department and its appointed commission came
out against it (HCN, 1/24/94). At a recent public hearing,
department representatives opposed the northern portion of the
bombing range, saying it seriously threatens the protection of
numerous species including antelope that fawn directly under a
proposed target. Afterwards, Andrus told an Idaho Press Club
luncheon that the agency had damaged the Owyhee Canyon far more
than a bombing range ever would. “Fish and Game Commission gave
6,603 licenses … for people to go down there with
four-wheel-drive pick-up trucks and chase through that whole area,
to go down into that area with live ammunition in their rifles and
kill and wound and chase those same critters they say they don’t
want harassed by airplanes flying overhead.” Owyhee Canyonlands
Coalition spokesperson Craig Gehrke said Andrus is wrong. The state
agency has no legal jurisdiction to issue permits for
four-wheel-drive vehicles, he said, and it only issued 488 hunting
tags for the proposed northern bombing range. Gehrke said Andrus is
“taking Fish and Game to task for doing what they’re supposed to
do.”
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Wildlife advocates stand firm.
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