Our organization is breaking down state boundaries, looking at landscapes like the Columbia Plateau, which takes in most of southern Idaho, extends into central Oregon and up into Central Washington. One of those places they ve recommended is the Owyhee Canyonlands, one of the great sagebrush steppe plateau ecosystems left. A functioning eco-system on a grand scale is what it is. Perhaps in Idaho we use more private dollars than in other states. That s a result of how we had to learn to work in this state.
People don t support more federal land off the tax rolls.
So, we learned the best way to build a program in Idaho was the private side. But the federal connection is just as important. For example, on the 45 Ranch we own 240 acres. There s 67,000 acres in federal and state grazing permits. So, we re working with the BLM there.