Hunters and environmentalists yesterday praised a decision by Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) to remove language from an Interior Department and U.S. EPA spending bill that would have barred the Forest Service from reducing sheep grazing on public lands in Idaho.

The provision, one of dozens of policy riders attached to the agencies' $28 billion fiscal 2013 bill, would have blocked a Payette National Forest plan to prevent domestic sheep from spreading a deadly disease to wild bighorn sheep.

Simpson yesterday said he was calling a "time out" on a controversy that has raged for years in Idaho over what grazing restrictions are appropriate to reduce threats to bighorns, which have experienced severe die-offs in parts of the West after exposure to a pneumonia-like disease that does not affect domestic sheep.

"I got involved in this issue because I care deeply for our ranchers and for the tribes and sportsmen who work so hard on bighorn sheep conservation," Simpson said yesterday during an Appropriations Committee markup of the bill. "I got involved to find a reasonable solution and tried to work with ranchers, hunters and land management agencies to solve this problem."

Simpson, who attached a similar rider to the fiscal 2012 omnibus spending bill Congress passed last December, said he plans to convene a round table on the issue in the near future, possibly in Boise, Idaho.

For environmental groups, the move signaled a small victory in an appropriations bill that critics say still contains harmful restrictions on agency plans to protect wetlands and streams, rangelands and the atmosphere.

"It's one glimmer of promise," said Bobby McEnaney, a senior public lands analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council. "The overall bill has a lot of insurmountable problems."

Environmentalists have railed against recent moves by Congress to legislate wildlife decisions, including an unprecedented bill that passed in April 2011 to remove Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in Montana and Idaho.

Simpson's decision to withdraw the sheep language in a manager's amendment drew applause yesterday from the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, the Wild Sheep Foundation and two associations of state fish and wildlife agencies.

"Conflicts between wild sheep and domestic sheep need to be managed by wildlife professionals and range managers using best available science and not by Congress," the groups said in a statement.

The move also drew praise from the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation and Safari Club International. Bighorn sheep are a coveted big-game trophy species in Idaho.

"We appreciate Chairman Simpson taking a step back in order to foster further consideration" said CSF President Jeff Crane. "We believe the congressman's approach is right on target."

While Simpson said he intended his 2012 rider to block implementation of the remaining phases of the Payette's three-year grazing reduction plan, a federal court said the agency must carry out the entire plan.

According to a Forest Service document, Soulen Livestock Co. is the only permittee that would experience further reductions in 2012. A call to Margaret Soulen Hinson, who leads the American Sheep Industry Association, was not returned last night.

The committee yesterday also rejected a handful of Democratic amendments aiming to overturn roughly two dozen legislative riders, restore funding for interagency ocean planning and impose new fees for oil and gas inspections and Superfund sites, among other proposals (Greenwire, June 27).

Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), who vigorously defended a rider to block Interior's stream buffer rule, yesterday said the bill "wisely places a limit on big-government excesses and supports America's rich natural heritage and economic drivers."

The committee resumes consideration of the $28 billion bill -- a 4 percent cut under current funding -- this morning at 9 a.m. As of noon yesterday, about six amendments remained on the docket, though committee staff said members might file additional measures.

Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), the ranking member of the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, which funds Interior and EPA, said he believes there is no chance the bill will receive a floor debate. "This is it," he said of Democratic hopes to remove Republican-authored policy provisions.

If he is right, the committee's bill will become the basis for negotiations with the Senate for a final spending package.