Chenoweth badgers pubic servants amidst cheers, boos.

Rexburg, Idaho. February 13. Helen Chenoweth's hearing on the Targhee National Forest road closures was set in the most Republican town in the most Republican state. The all-Republican Idaho congressional delegation stepped off the plane fresh from the impeachment trial to hold a hearing about why Targhee National Forest had recently physically closed and obliterated about 400 miles of roads. Chenoweth must have assumed that "the Clinton/Gore Forest Service," as she described it, would be savaged by the delegation amidst an approving crowd.

It was not to be. Folks turned out from all over Eastern Idaho to form a mixed crowd. The controversial congresswomen from the "other congressional" district of Idaho made her first official Eastern Idaho appearance as she conducted her sub-committee on Forests and Forest Health hearing to an about equal number of cheers and cat calls.

For many folks, it was their first congressional hearing. Even for old hands, it was an odd hearing. In the post-impeachment atmosphere all five panels of witnesses had to swear they would not commit perjury -- probably a first for a congressional field hearing. The congressionals themselves took no oath promising to be fair; and as any political science textbook indicates, congressional hearings are almost never intended to be fair, but rather to accomplish political objectives.

While no one was allowed to talk except for the pre-selected, mostly anti-environmental, witnesses, half of the crowd made clear its approval of the road closures throughout the hearing.  The presence of numerous people, many with signs, in support of road closures and in favor of grizzly bears, tempered the delegation (except for Chairman Chenoweth).  The congressionals did not attack grizzly bears but rather the "destruction" the Forest Service had authorized in closing the roads.

Senator Craig's staff had taken photos of the alleged damage and these had been blown up to a 2 x 3 foot size in front of rostrum in the historic Rexburg Tabernacle where the crowd of 300 was seated.

The booing began when chairman Chenoweth opened the meeting the a 15-minute diatribe against the Forest Service. Things calmed down as the hearing proceeded and  the rest of the delegation explored the matter. Eighteen witnesses in the first four panels were called, only three of which were supporters of the road closures -- The Greater Yellowstone Coalition, the Wilderness Society, and the Henry's Fork Foundation.

Most of the anti-road closure testimony focused on the safety hazard of the "tank traps" and the destruction caused by the closures. Brent Robinson, a Teton County commissioner, reported that he broke his back after hitting one while snowmobiling, although it was one constructed three years ago, not part of the recent controversy. Jim Gerber, head of pro-roads "Citizens for the User Friendly Forest" did get into the grizzly bear issue.  He produced a ten year old chart of grizzly bear locations that indicated grizzly bears did not use the Targhee National Forest, including the Plateau Bear Management Unit (BMU) which is both on the national forest and inside Yellowstone National Park.

The embattled head of Idaho Fish and Game, Steven Mealy, testified that the there was indeed grizzly habitat on the Plateau BMU, although he said it only occurred in "micosites" -- meaning it was scattered into various pockets. Mealey also testified that road closures met his department's policy in the area of providing a quality elk hunt by reducing the number of open roads so that hunters would suffer fewer restrictions on what type of elk they could shoot. Mealey's testimony on elk was backed up by Fish and Game commissioners Jeff Siddoway and John Burns.

Marv Hoyt, who runs the Eastern Idaho Field office of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, said that Gerber's data were out of date. Hoyt provided information that grizzly bears were now moving onto the Plateau and Henry's Lake BMUs, and that there were 44 grizzly sightings in 1997 alone inside Yellowstone NP within a mile of the two BMUs. Bears are now fishing for kokanee salmon right down in Island Park at Henry's Lake outlet, he said. This is west of the BMU. As bears moved west, Chenoweth wondered if the whole forest would be closed to humans.

Although past congressional rhetoric has been that Idahoans are overwhelmingly against the road closures, Hoyt provided the latest figures from the public comment period on the road closure plan: of 5171 comments received by February 11, all but 70 favored the closures. Of Idahoans, 723 favored closures and 33 opposed them.   4972 of the responses favored alternative  3m(-) The closure plan remains open to public comment until March 5.

Jan Brown, executive director of the Henry's Fork Foundation, which focuses on the famed Henry's Fork fishery, indicated that open roads were the primary source of sedimentation into the waters, not the massive clear-cut logging. She said that even after the most ambitious road closure plan was adopted, several thousand vehicular stream crossings would remain.

After the fourth panel, the hearing seemed to be winding done.  The final panel was devoted to the Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife Service personnel involved with the road closures. Chenoweth angrily threatened them with budget cuts and loss of their jobs. There was irony in her threats. From the testimony, it was clear to me that if the Forest Service had erred in making the closures, it was due to lack of funds. The closures were the cost-effective method given the absence of closure enforcement money (the Service had gated most of the roads closed but in many cases vehicles drove around the gates).

As her attacks continued, the crowd began to seriously contest the process. She ordered one person removed by the Rexburg police. The police did not comply.

At the very end twelve members of Buffalo Nations arrived, dressed in costume to drown out the rest of hearing. Chenoweth gaveled the meeting closed and drove off amidst chants -- "Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, Targhee roads have got to go."

It is reported that today the congressional delegation is in Island Park on snowmobiles looking at the closed roads.