COOLIN, Idaho (AP) — Some northern Idaho residents are upset by a proposal to designate an area half the size of Rhode Island in Idaho and Washington as critical habitat for endangered caribou.
They blasted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at a meeting on Tuesday in Coolin, Idaho, saying the federal plans amounted to a land grab that would devastate the local economy.
But federal officials say the designation is required to help save the last remaining caribou herd in the Lower 48 states. They say the average person should not be much impacted by a critical habitat designation.
