GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. -- Frustration doesn't begin to describe how Western governors are feeling toward members of their own congressional delegations.
For years, reform of the Endangered Species Act has been the top priority of the governors, and for years the governors worked with federal wildlife regulators and various presidential administrations to craft a consensus compromise.And on the brink of success, a caucus of Western representatives last year pulled the plug on a bill to reform the Endangered Species Act.
"They just didn't understand the level of frustration the governors have in dealing with that issue," said Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt. "They just didn't get it. We needed that bill, and our own people let us down."
That frustration boiled over Sunday on the first day of the annual Western Governors Association meetings being held at the Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Teton National Park. Frustration directed not only at congressmen, but at federal officials.
There was also resignation that nothing can be done to resolve the issue for at least 18 more months, sometime after the next presidential election.
"If there was a glimmer of hope, the Western governors would be beating down the door of Congress," Leavitt said.
That didn't set well with Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, who said "we shouldn't be satisfied with an 18-month hiatus where we get nothing done. We should rise up and demand our representatives move this legislation forward."
Donald Barry, assistant secretary of Department of Interior over endangered species issues, told the governors the Clinton administration is "not optimistic" that Congress will address the issue anytime before Clinton leaves office. Consequently, the administration has shifted its efforts toward administrative reforms that can maybe alleviate some of the frustrations felt at the state and local level over how the Endangered Species Act is implemented.
He called it "moving forward in oblique directions."
But when Leavitt wanted to know if the Clinton administration would be willing to enter into a joint program with the Western Governors Association to educate the public and Congress on the need for "meaningful legislation," Barry ducked the question.
Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt always prefers collaboration and cooperation, Barry said. But, he asked, did the governors know there was more money in the Clinton budget for conservation projects that could be directed at cooperative partnerships advocated by the governors?
Western governors and several panel guests also took aim at federal bureaucrats who have frustrated local cooperative efforts to save endangered species. Examples were related where local partnerships to save endangered species were unraveled by bureaucrats who thought they knew better; about different federal agencies fighting among themselves over jurisdiction; about unwillingness to work with private land owners.
"What is it about us that makes us an unworthy partner?" asked South Dakota Gov. William Janklow of Barry.
"I respectfully disagree with you," Barry said. "That may have been true 15 years ago, but we view them (state and local governments and private landowners) as our critical partners."
Leavitt was fishing for support from Barry for an 18-month campaign to be sponsored by the governors association designed to educate congressmen on the need for a new Endangered Species Act that can actually help save species and respect private property rights.
The governors association plan also calls for a "broad education initiative" directed at the public, and the development of local conservation initiatives that can be held up as examples of solving endangered species problems through cooperative agreements rather than confrontation.
The governors will vote on a resolution that calls on each governor to do a little one-on-one educating of their congressmen -- a woodshedding, of sorts. They intend to take each member of their own delegation on field trips to look firsthand at how cooperative agreements between state, federal and private stakeholders are working to everyone's benefit.
In Utah, that will mean a trip to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes, where a compromise has resulted in efforts to protect the endangered tiger beetle while still protecting the rights of off-highway vehicle users to enjoy the dunes. Leavitt also wants to show how cooperative plans are working to save prairie dogs in Iron County and endangered fish in the Colorado River.
Leavitt says the governors will not repeat the mistake they made before. "Next time, they (congressmen) will understand the issue from our perspective," he said.
Governors are not predicting exactly when the issue will be ripe once again for congressional debate, but they recognized they are partly to blame for the failure of the bill, sponsored by Dirk Kempthorne, an Idaho senator at the time who is now governor of the state.
The Kempthorne bill was a modified version of the one drafted by the Western Governors Association. It passed the Senate, but by the time it reached the House it had been loaded down with unrelated -- and controversial -- issues related to water rights and property rights. In addition to the Western congressmen, environmental groups opposed the bill.
The result: Lawmakers were so afraid of the bill no one would sign on as the House sponsor.
Governors agreed they had to accept some responsibility for failing to educate congressmen on the importance of the bill, which had the unanimous support of the Western Governors Association, the National Governors Association, an association of fish and wildlife managers and the Clinton Administration.
Kempthorne wants to see the issue become part of the upcoming presidential election debates, adding that failure to address reforms "is going to shut down every state in the nation." In other words, don't stop at educating Congress. The next president needs to be educated, too.