I have spent my career reporting on issues that centered around risk.

What has always interested me is how poorly we humans deal with risk no matter what our ideological bent is.

For instance, I know many people who will not go into Yellowstone’s backcountry because of their fear of grizzly bears. Camping in grizzly country seems as dangerous to them as sleeping in a war zone.

But millions of people visit Yellowstone without ever being attacked by grizzlies. Thousands camp in the backcountry without ever seeing a bear.

Oregon voters have raised taxes on the richest among them.

They chose to soak the fat boys and spread it out thin, in the words of Willie Stark in “All the King’s Men.” Or in the words of millionaire Idaho Gov. Butch Otter, they engaged in “class warfare.”

National environmental groups have always played a significant role in Idaho resource policy since so much of the state is wild, roadless and scenic. Our fish and wildlife resources are world class so its not surprising that preserving them has attracted the leaders of these national groups.

You might remember in the fall that the Wilderness Society’s President William Meadows honored Bethine Church for her years of conservation efforts and applauded the efforts of Sen. Mike Crapo to help move the Owyhee Canyonlands wilderness bill to Obama’s desk for signature.

This year Idaho lawmakers are making painful budget cuts they never would have considered in even bad times in the past.

State agencies, which have already had to lay off all but essential workers, are looking to slash services. Schools are not just looking at ways to protect classroom quality, they are seeking ways to blunt the effects on students who will only get one chance at an education.

Gov. Butch Otter has sought to make the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation self sufficient, first with a ill-fated plan to move it to the Department of Lands and Fish and Game, and now with a new plan he will unveil today.

But if he is going to really make the agency better able to pay for itself he will have to give it the tools.

For instance, he disapproved a budget request to build a picnic shelter at Eagle Island that was to be built with dedicated money and had a projected pay back in four years. That could have brought 25-years of income to the agency at least.

The world’s glaciers are melting but how fast?

Not necessarily as fast as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported in its landmark 2007 report. The United Nations led panel issued an unprecedented apology for a paragraph in the report that said the glaciers in the Himalayas could all melt by 2035 “and perhaps sooner, The Times of London reported.

The clearest sign that Gov. Butch Otter is backing off his “conceptual” plan to move the Department of Parks and Recreation over to the Department of Lands is that it wasn’t even discussed at the monthly meeting of the Idaho Land Board Tuesday.

The Idaho Land Board sought to end a decade-old battle over grazing endowment lands in 2009 by approving rules that opened up leasing to conservationists and sporting groups.

Now the Idaho Legislature must decide whether to veto the rules aimed at increasing funds for schools or let them pass. The Idaho Cattle Association hopes for a constitutional amendment that can keep ranchers from being forced off of lands they have always used and a re integral parts of their businesses.

Portland General Electric’s surprise decision last week to shut down its Boardman coal-fired electric generation plant means that Idaho Power will be reducing its coal base load sooner than expected.

The Oregon utility was going to have to invest $500 to $700 million in new pollution controls to keep the plant operating. Since Idaho Power has a 10 percent stake in the plant that meant that Idaho’s customers would have had to pony up from $50 to $70 million for its stake.

The Rexburg Standard Journal has a great story on the parks issue. Its Republican Sen. Brent Hill lays out the debate in the story very well. He discusses the idea of moving the parks to Lands and dramatically reducing state support of the ageny.