For 16 years, I have had the pleasure to serve and represent the citizens of my district in the Idaho Legislature. I have learned a lot about what it means to be an elected official. Many times you will find yourself caught between diverse interests. Having to resolve those differences and find common ground is an art that has been lost in a time when partisan politics have crippled our government. Today is not like my high school government class teacher promised.

Wilderness bills have long divided Idahoans - and the people Idahoans elect to represent them on Capitol Hill.

But not this year. All four members of the delegation have signed on to Idaho's next good wilderness bill, the product of years of patient work by GOP Rep. Mike Simpson. They have agreed to cross party lines. They are moving forward, in an election year.

They have set aside smaller political concerns of the moment to focus on something bigger: Central Idaho's majestic Boulder-White Clouds roadless area, and a consensus-based plan for managing the region.

With broad support, Congress should expand wilderness protections along Oregon’s Rogue River

The Rogue River is what most Americans probably imagine when they think of wilderness. It is beautiful, unspoiled, remote -- a wild place in every sense. 

It has been a number of years now since I last walked the trails in my beloved Boulder-White Clouds. But I cherish indelible memories of growing up in the shadow of those fabulous mountains and of favorite jaunts with my husband, Frank, and our children across flower-studded meadows to camp in this high, wild Idaho paradise.

It is because my family had the opportunity to enjoy this special, unspoiled corner of our state that I feel so strongly that future generations of Idahoans should have that same opportunity.

Were he still alive, our father, Wayne Owens, who served the Salt Lake City area in the U.S. House of Representatives, would be cheering the latest steps for preservation of our municipal water supply. Rep. Jim Matheson recently introduced legislation to permanently protect more than 26,000 acres of national forest lands in the city watershed along the Wasatch Front.

CUSTER, S.D. - Nearly 50,000 acres of land in the Buffalo Gap National Grassland in south west South Dakota would be designated as wilderness by a bill introduced in Congress by South Dakota Sen. Tim Johnson. Cheryl Warren, coordinator of the South Dakota Wild Grassland Coalition, says this is a unique area that deserves special protections.