Alert: Snake River Birds of Prey Area Threatened

In 1980, then Secretary of the Interior, Cecil D. Andrus, withdrew by executive order (PLO 5777) 482,000 acres of public lands to protect the prey base (mainly ground squirrels and jackrabbits) for the birds of prey nesting in the Snake River canyon, 26,000 acres of which had recieived special designation in 1971 as nesting habitat for raptors under Public Land order 5133 (Rogers C.B. Morton). The whole cmplex is referred to as the Snake River Birds of Prey Area, and it is administered under the Bureau of Land Management, which has the responsibility to assure the Bureau of Land Management, which has the responsibility to assure proper conservation of the Area's resources for the benefit of raptors. Certain human activities and land uses are not excluded for the Area--livestock grazing, hunting and other "recreational" activities involving ORV traffic, certain minin and mineral leasing, and the training activites of the Idaho Army National Guard.