Seven years in the making, Sen. Mike Crapo's wilderness bill faces a key Senate hearing Tuesday. The case for his home-grown, consensus-based public lands policy remains as compelling as ever. Think wilderness, and you generally think deep alpine forests, mountain peaks scrubbed by glaciers, and frigid blue lakes. Now, think about the Owyhee Canyonlands. These are high desert and sagebrush lands - home not to wolves and steelhead, but to pronghorn antelope and sage grouse. Every bit as rugged as "traditional" wilderness, yet unlike anything else in Idaho's treasure of 4 million acres of wilderness. It is a kind of terrain and wildlife habitat, says Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo, that is underrepresented by America's 107.4 million acres of federally protected wilderness.

The Owyhees redefine wilderness. In the same vein, Crapo's Owyhee wilderness bill redefines the process of protecting America's most spectacular country and most important wildlife habitat. This is a new concept, at least by Idaho standards. This is a wilderness bill rooted in the community, not in the halls of Congress. Since 2001, Crapo has coordinated hearings with locally elected officials, ranchers, outfitters, hunters and environmentalists. Seven years ago, the fact that these groups agreed to talk was noteworthy. The fact that they now agree to legislation is nothing short of remarkable. Just as important, even the skeptics are at least willing to listen, and study the latest version of the Owyhees bill, introduced April 10.

Jon Marvel - executive director of the Western Watersheds Project, a group opposed to public lands grazing - wants to scrutinize the details before passing judgment. Marvel called a 2006 version of the bill "a heart-stopping giveaway of public land."

On Friday, Rep. Bill Sali said he wanted more time to look at Crapo's proposal, which would create 517,000 acres of wilderness in Sali's 1st Congressional District. He wants to make sure the money for the legislation - $12 million, largely to buy ranch lands - is committed upfront, not in some future spending bill. He wants to make sure the lands not declared wilderness are released for multiple use. Two years ago, during a heated GOP primary election, Sali said, "(I) am not yet convinced of the need for additional lockup of the Owyhee Canyonlands."

The low-key Crapo hasn't beaten down the skeptics. Instead, he has painstakingly and patiently crafted a bill. Sali commends Crapo for working with local groups, and that's why he wants to look at the bill with an open mind. First, a Senate subcommittee will look at the legislation, in a hearing scheduled for Tuesday. In sorting out the details, senators also should consider the consensus and compromise behind its making.

Cowboys and county commissioners in an outpost of Idaho are willing to go along with wilderness designation for more than one tenth of the county. Conservationists are willing to accept deals that would buy out some ranches and allow some ranchers to swap grazing lands in and around wilderness for allotments elsewhere in the Owyhees. "No party got everything they wanted," said Bill Sedivy of Idaho Rivers United, which supports a bill that would create 315 miles of federally protected wild and scenic rivers.

Every party would get closure, however, and an end to years of confrontation and controversy. Meanwhile, Idaho would receive an object lesson: Wilderness preservation need not be a zero-sum game or a top-down struggle. Idaho has been there and done that - and that's why Idaho hasn't added any new wilderness since 1980. Like Rep. Mike Simpson, who has spent several years crafting a wilderness for Central Idaho's Boulder-White Clouds roadless area, Crapo is trying to change the tenor of Idaho's public lands debate. Crapo's colleagues should reward this effort, this year, by approving his Owyhees bill.

Seven years is a long time to write a wilderness bill. Twenty-eight years is a long time to wait for one.