Saving the Snake River

By Peter Stoler

Andrus and Redford cruise for the raptors

Rising in the mountains of Wyoming and flowing sinuously northwestward to its meeting with the Columbia, the Snake River traverses some of the most beautiful country in the American West. Perhaps none of the scenery through which it flows is more impressive than Idaho's Snake River Birds of Prey Natural Area, a 33-mile stretch of water bordered on both sides by high-rise towers of volcanic rock and sheer sandstone cliffs, and inhabited by the densest nesting population of raptors, or birds of prey, anywhere in the world. Golden eagles perch on inaccessible crags; prairie and peregrine falcons launch themselves from cliff faces and soar into the high, crystalline desert sky. Eleven other species of raptor, from the diminutive robin-size kestrel, or sparrow hawk, to the stocky great horned owl, make their homes and raise their offspring in the canyon.

Many of these birds are old friends to

Cecil Andrus, who was twice elected Governor of Idaho before moving to Washington to become Secretary of the Interior last year. He revisited them last week, floating down the Snake in an inflatable rubber "snout boat" and heading to shore frequently to stop and survey the vistas. "I've been watching that old bird for years," said Andrus as he removed his battered stetson and stooped to peer through a telescope at a golden eagle perched like a gargoyle on a precipice. The eagle was not the only acquaintance Andrus renewed on the trip, which was organized by a private, nonprofit group called the Nature Conservancy to bring attention to the encroachments of civilization on the Snake. Earlier that day, the Secretary and Actor-Conservationist Robert Redford, a longtime ally who joined Andrus on the trip, had watched as a pair of prairie falcons performed aerobatics against a background of vertical cliffs. Later the two strolled along the riverbank and discussed, among other things, the need for educating Americans to appreciate the value of their natural resources. "Too often," said Redford, "we don't realize what we have until after it's gone."

Drifting along under a hot sun, taking a turn at rowing one of the unwieldy rubber boats and scrambling up the sage-covered slopes of side canyons, Andrus clearly enjoyed himself on his two-day holiday from the office. So did the three dozen others in the six-boat party, including Idaho Governor John Evans and his wife Lola. But the purpose of the cruise was business as well as pleasure. Both the natural area and its high-flying inhabitants are endangered, and the river trip marked the kickoff of a joint public and private campaign to save them. "These birds are valuable, important even to the people who never come here to look at them," said Andrus. "They are wild and free and make us all a little richer and freer just by existing."

The nesting sites of the birds were given some legal protection when the land was officially recognized as a natural area by the Interior Department in 1971. But the raptors' prey base--the lands necessary to furnish the far-ranging predators with the ground squirrels, rabbits and other small animals necessary to their survival--was not. Now, expanded farming has reduced the amount of small game in the lands on either side of the canyon rim. Private holdings along the river increase the likelihood of speculation and development. Together, these growing threats could push the birds to the brink of extinction. "This is the last remaining place where these species can be maintained so they won't disappear," says Andrus. "Once the animals go, the birds go too."

Efforts to protect the birds are already being undertaken by the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management, which controls the 26,311 acres of riverside land now in public ownership. Andrus has taken some action to safeguard the raptors and their region by placing an expanded area, covering more than 800,000 acres and 65 river miles, under "temporary protective withdrawal" while BLM Biologists study the birds and their needs.

But the major effort is being made by the Nature Conservancy. The organization has identified five parcels of private land, covering almost 900 acres and including more than a dozen known nesting sites as well as springs and marsh lands, that it considers essential to the integrity of the Birds of Prey Natural Area.

Now it is attempting to raise $500,000 so that it can buy them and either maintain them or, once the area's future has been decided, sell them to the BLM.

The Nature Conservancy is no novice in this kind of campaign. The 27-year-old organization has already acquired 1,188,213 acres of land in 47 states, the Caribbean and Canada. Most of this land has been turned over to the federal and state governments for protection. Some is held by the Conservancy and managed either by volunteers or professional staffs.

Instead of battling Big Business, a fight that many environmental groups seem to relish, the Conservancy attempts to work with large land-holding corporations, identifying unused but ecologically valuable lands. Then it hammers out arrangements that make it worthwhile for a company either to donate them or sell them at a price the organization can afford to pay. "We don't belabor businessmen with their past sins," explains Conservancy President Patrick Noonan. "What we talk about instead is the parts of the environment they can help save." Business men seem impressed by this combination of philanthropy and sound finance; the Conservancy's 49,000 members include 157 corporations.

Andrus endorses the organization's effort. "Projects like this cannot be financed by government alone," says the Secretary.

"Private contributors must also get involved." Others, including Redford, businessmen and raptor experts, are also enlisting in the campaign. Together, the group believes that it can meet a Dec. 31 deadline for exercising its options on the canyon lands.

After 14 months in office and some brickbats from Western farmers who resent his role in the cancellation of several water projects, Andrus is fully aware of his responsibilities. He recognizes that some of the nation's public lands must be mined, logged, grazed or otherwise used to meet the needs of the U.S. economy.

But he also believes that something must be saved for the future, a view that is supported by the White House. As the Snake River excursion ended, Andrus expressed his guiding philosophy. "I simply do not believe," said he, "that this generation should decide now, and for all time, how to dispose of the country's natural resources. We must leave something for the future."

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