PUBLIC LANDS -- The stars may be aligning for Idaho wilderness:

U.S. Senate panel sends Idaho wilderness bill to the full Senate
On Thursday, the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved sending Idaho U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson's Boulder-White Clouds wilderness bill, S. 583,which would designate three new wilderness areas in central Idaho, to the full Senate for action.

-- Idaho Statesman

Idaho senators must get the votes needed to pass wilderness bill
U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson has worked for more than a decade to get wilderness protections in place for areas of the Boulder-White Cloud Mountains. Now that the U.S. House has passed the latest version of Simpson's bill, and the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources has sent a similar measure to the full Senate for action, Idaho's U.S. Sens. Jim Risch and Mike Crapo must work diligently to get the measure through the Senate.
--Twin Falls Times-News

Sportsmen's groups have been backing some sort of wilderness proposal for years.

President Obama was considering the area for executive designation as a national monument as an alternative to inaction on the proposals by Congress.

"Backcountry Hunters & Anglers is not opposed to a monument designation, said Katie McKalip, the group's communications director in Missoula. "We want to see the region conserved. But a legislative solution is our first choice and, given the general inability of Congress to agree on much of anything these days, is an even more remarkable outcome, potentially."

She continued:

Worth noting is that Idaho’s 4 million wilderness acres and 12 million acres of unprotected roadless land have become arguably the state’s most valuable natural asset.

In the Interior Columbia River Basin, 60 percent of the best remaining trout and salmon habitat, 85 percent of the healthiest populations of all western cutthroat trout species and 76 percent of the remaining healthy populations of bull trout are found in roadless areas.

In Idaho, roadless areas provide roughly one-third of inland habitat for Chinook salmon and trout. The Boulder-White Clouds legislation can have a huge impact on these resources and our future ability to enjoy them as sportsmen and outdoor recreationists.