Central Idaho County Appose Monument Status for White Clouds

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Lemhi County commissioners in central Idaho have approved a resolution against a potential presidential proclamation designating a national monument in the region. The Idaho Statesman reports in a story on Tuesday that the resolution urges President Barack Obama to refrain from using the Antiquities Act to establish a national monument in the Boulder-White Clouds. Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson has attempted to have approved in Congress the Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act, which would have created three wilderness areas in the Boulder and White Cloud Mountains of 332,775 acres, while also releasing 130,000 acres from wilderness study are to multiple use. But those efforts have so far failed, so conservation groups are lobbying the Obama administration to establish a national monument.