Spring is a time to look forward to in the Owyhee Canyonlands. Melting snowpacks turn the Bruneau, Jarbidge, and Owyhee rivers into some of the wildest, most challenging whitewater rivers in America. The sagebrush plateaus green up and wildflowers add amazing displays of color. Sage grouse start drumming. Bighorn sheep lambs are born in the sheer, rocky canyons. The folks who live in Owyhee County look forward to longer, warmer days as they make a livelihood in one of Idaho's most remote counties. There's another reason to look forward to this particular spring in the Owyhees. In the next few weeks the U.S. Senate will consider the Owyhee Public Lands Management Act of 2008, legislation to implements parts of the Owyhee Initiative. Started in 2001 by the Owyhee County Commissioners, the Owyhee Initiative brought together county officials, the Shoshone-Paiute Tribe, ranchers, conservationists, and outfitters to participate in a collaborative process to rise above the polarization in many Western public land discussions. Seeking to ensure economic viability for local communities and secure lasting protection for some of southwest Idaho's most spectacular landscapes, the Initiative produced a common ground and common-sense proposal that Sen. Mike Crapo took to Congress.

At its core the Owyhee Initiative was a locally driven process, taking a new approach of bringing people together to develop common-sense solutions rather than face off in protracted battles. All the participants are committed to making sure all the components of the Initiative are successfully implemented, including those not included in the pending legislation. Since the beginning the Owyhee Initiative has received abundant exposure in the media, numerous public meetings, Owyhee County hearings and in testimony before Congress. The process helped refine both the Initiative and this legislation.

The Owyhee Public Lands Management Act proposes for wilderness 517,000 acres of the most diverse landscapes in the county. Sheer-walled river canyons, rolling sagebrush plateaus with thousands of acres of sage grouse habitat, and juniper woodlands containing some of the oldest trees in Idaho are all included in the proposed wilderness areas. Within these wildernesses will be 315 miles of designated Wild and Scenic Rivers, including the East, South and North Forks of the Owyhee River, Big and Little Jacks Creeks, and the Bruneau and Jarbidge Rivers. If successful, this will be the single largest addition to the Wild and Scenic River system nationally since 1992.

There is more to the Owyhee Public Lands Management Act than wilderness and wild and scenic rivers. Other provisions include:

• A science review and conservation center where the BLM, the Shoshone-Paiute Tribe, Owyhee County, University of Idaho, federal grazing permittees and the public will conduct research projects on issues affecting both public and private rangelands. The purpose of the center is collection and analysis of information for improved rangeland management.
• Acquisition by the BLM of scattered parcels of private land within or adjacent to the proposed wildernesses. The legislation ensures these land exchanges will be done under existing laws and be "value for value."
• A plan where the BLM and the Shoshone-Paiute Tribe work together to provide greater protection from theft and vandalism of cultural and archeological resources in Owyhee County.
• Recreation travel plans to establish systems of designated trails for all users, curbing damage from growing off-road vehicle recreation.

The Owyhee Public Lands Management Act strives to be sensitive to the livelihoods of those living and working in Owyhee County while at the same time providing a vision of wilderness and wild river protection to benefit future generations of Idahoans. Passage of the Owyhee Public Management Act by Congress is one step in the on-going collaborative that the Owyhee Initiative started. More work remains to implement all of the agreement, but this legislation shows much can be accomplished by people sitting down, rolling up their sleeves, and getting to work.

Craig Gehrke is the Idaho regional director for The Wilderness Society, a national environmental group that helped write the bill.