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COEUR d’ALENE — Deciding uses for roadless areas in Idaho is always controversial, government officials acknowledged at the public meeting to discuss Idaho’s proposed roadless plan Wednesday.

Those areas are, after all, the “gems of the Gem State,” as Tom Schwarz from the Idaho Conservation League said. The proposed Idaho Roadless Rule divides Idaho’s 9.3 million roadless acres into five different categories.

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Coalition leaders celebrated the bill’s introduction and vowed to support the effort, but lamented the fact that the delegation is missing an opportunity to include some of the forest’s most popular and spectacular areas in the bill. Groups encouraged lawmakers to amend the legislation and include important areas like Seneca Creek, all of Roaring Plains and the East Fork of the Greenbrier areas.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - A Senate committee endorsed a plan to create federal wilderness protection for nearly 14,000 acres of national forest land along Oregon’s southern coast.

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U.S. Forest Service officials met with the public Thursday in Vernal to discuss a draft environmental impact statement for Wild and Scenic Rivers designations on the Ashley National Forest.

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However, 300 acres of open sand at Joshua Lane and Collard Lake near Florence probably will be closed to motorized use. Neighboring property owners have complained about noise and litter problems, and there’s been some environmental damage as well, forest officials say.

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Just days after Bridger-Teton National Forest officials announced the start of a new environmental analysis for 44,700 acres in the Wyoming Range, an energy company has proposed a plan to drill on part of the contested land.