County vote renews push for Craters National Park [View all]

ARCO, Idaho — A group pursuing national park status for Craters of the Moon National Monument plans to resume its push to win the Idaho Legislature’s blessing following a Nov. 8 advisory ballot in which local voters supported the concept.

Idaho Farm Bureau Federation vows to continue fighting the status change, fearing it would enable the federal government to place new restrictions on the area’s agricultural producers.

Butte County voters endorsed the change — proposed for 55,000 acres of the 750,000-acre national monument and preserve — by a 715-529 vote. President Calvin Coolidge created the monument in 1924 under the Antiquities Act.

“We work for our voters,” said Rose Bernal, a Butte County commissioner and co-chairwoman of the Coalition to Change the Name. “We don’t want to go forward and do things our constituents aren’t in support of.”

Read more: http://www.capitalpress.com/Idaho/20161123/county-vote-renews-push-for-craters-national-park