Nothing is ever certain in the politics of wilderness, but a bill introduced by U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo last week may actually have a chance of becoming a law that protects the Owyhee canyonlands. The Owyhee Public Lands Management Act of 2008 would create a new 807-square-mile wilderness while opening other previously off-limits areas to motorized recreation, livestock grazing and other activities. It would also provide ranchers with cash and federal land in exchange for giving up private land and surrendering grazing rights on some public land. Crapo's previous wilderness bill, in 2006, put the amount to be given to ranchers at $15 million, but it's unclear how much money is involved in the current legislation.

The Wilderness Society is on board this time, as are some groups that represent ranching interests. More importantly, so - apparently - is Idaho's other Republican senator, Larry Craig. Previously he was Senator No when it came to wilderness legislation. When Crapo introduced Owyhee legislation two years ago, Craig wanted all the money needed to designate such wilderness to be provided before the bill became law. But Crapo consulted Craig from the start in redrafting the bill, and thinks the senior senator's concerns won't be problem this time.

The first hurdle will be the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and its Public Lands and Forest Subcommittee, chaired by Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden. Hearings are scheduled to start April 22. Wyden and the committee's overall chairman, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., are ardent wilderness supporters, but they're sure to hear criticism of the bill from some extreme environmentalists. And then there's Crapo's fellow Republican, Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who has threatened to filibuster any legislation that contains new federal spending.But this version of the Owyhee bill enjoys as close to consensus as is likely for wilderness legislation. And if it makes headway in the Senate it can't help but bolster Rep. Mike Simpson's Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act, which is pending before the House Committee on Natural Resources.

CIEDRA is a much more complicated piece of legislation, a knife-edge compromise among environmentalists, off-road vehicle groups and residents of the Sawtooth Valley. Two years ago, CIEDRA survived the objections of Craig and then-congressman - and now governor - C.L. "Butch" Otter. The leadership of the GOP, who ran the House and Senate at the time, agreed on the details and CIEDRA was attached to another bill. But at the last minute, then-Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert of Illinois pulled the plug in favor of legislation that benefitted his state. Now the Democrats, who as a group are more wilderness-friendly, control Congress. Simpson has kept CIEDRA alive by hard work and strategic concessions, the same kind of horse-trading Crapo had to do to make the Owyhee wilderness bill viable again. Maybe - just maybe - they'll get to stand behind President Bush when he signs both bills into law later this year.