Almost lost in the celebration of the passage of the first Idaho wilderness bill in 29 years was Congress’ recognition of Boise conservation giant Morley Nelson.

The omnibus lands bill that included the Owyhees Canyonland protection also included Idaho Republican Rep. Mike Simpson's legislation to rename the Snake River Birds of Prey Conservation Area in honor of Nelson. Once President Barack Obama signs the bill the area will be called the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area.

Nelson convinced former Interior Secretary Cecil Andrus to give special protection to the area southwest of Boise on public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management. In 1993 with Nelson's prodding then U.S. Rep. Larry LaRocco led the effort in Congress to make the 482,000-acre area a national conservation area.

“Nobody did more than Morley to protect that precious resource,” said J. Peter Jenny, president and CEO of The Peregrine Fund.

Nelson was first a falconer, one of the leaders of the sport who joined together to save their beloved birds from extinction. From falconers came the birds that Biologist Tom Cade and his team at Cornell University developed and expanded the captive breeding program that brought the peregrine falcon to recovery.

Nelson served on The Peregrine Fund’s board of directors for 22 years, from 1981 to 2005. He was instrumental in convincing The Peregrine Fund to site its World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise 25 years ago.

“Morley’s boundless enthusiasm for his home state convinced us that Idaho was the place to be,” Jenny said.

Nelson’s association with The Peregrine Fund began long before the organization was founded in 1970. Cade, who founded the Peregrine Fund, first met Nelson in Boise in 1951, the year Cade graduated from the University of Alaska.

“I presented him with two Peregrines from the Yukon River that year,” said Cade who now lives in Idaho.

Cade doesn’t hold back when talking about Nelson’s contribution to conservation of birds of prey in the West. He called him one of the most important people of the 20th century.

“He was recognized internationally for what he did,” Cade said.

Simpson also had a bill included in the lands bill to transfer to the City of Twin Falls 165 acres scattered throughout the Auger Falls area and owned by the Bureau of Land Management.

Other Idaho related sections:

--$3 million for feasibility studies of dams and water projects on the Snake
River and its tributaries.

--The “Wolf Livestock Loss Demonstration Project,” which would provide
states and Indian tribes with $1 million a year for five years, divided
equally between compensating for lost livestock and undertaking non-lethal
activities to reduce the risk of livestock loss due to wolves.