Former Deputy Attorney General for the state of Idaho Clive Strong discusses the Swan Falls controversy of the early 1980s. This landmark agreement has had far reaching implications for water rights and water law across the US, but it also had a local impact on the establishment of protection for the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey NCA.

Norm Nelson is the oldest son of Morley Nelson, who is widely considered to be the most influential figure in the establishment of a National Conservation Area in the snake river canyon. What many people don’t realize however, is the substantial role that Morley’s family played in working to get protected status for this unique area. While Morley was working his full time job as the region’s snow survey supervisor – a job that he held from the late 1940s through the early 1970s – it was often his kids – Norm, Tim, Tyler and Suzie – who were out in the field working to spread awareness about birds of prey. Norm became interested in both raptors and filmmaking at an early age – he was training eagles and shooting film footage for big time film productions by the time he was in high school. While Morley was pulling strings behind the scenes to secure funding for documentaries about birds of prey in the Snake River canyon, it was often Norm and his younger brother Tyler who were responsible for the creative process behind these influential films. We feel honored to have had the opportunity to interview Norm for this oral history series, and we hope that you enjoy his stories about a lifetime of work in the Snake River canyon as much as we did!

Larry LaRocco served as a congressman from Idaho’s 1st congressional district in the US House of Representatives from 1991 through 1995. When he was elected, LaRocco knew very little about the Snake River canyon region, but he had cut his teeth as a politician working on wilderness legislation in central Idaho as a field coordinator for Senator Frank Church. LaRocco entered congress at a moment when Morley Nelson, Cecil Andrus and others were starting to become concerned about the need to permanently protect the Snake River canyon. The Snake River Birds of Prey Natural Area had been protected through a 20 year administrative withdrawal in 1980, so by 1991 there were less than 10 years left to make that protection permanent. Representative LaRocco took this issue on, and was able to use his experience in public lands issues to sponsor legislation establishing permanent protection for the Snake River canyon region. This legislation was Larry LaRocco’s greatest political victory - without Representative LaRocco, the area might have lost it’s protected status.

Dean Bibles played a key role in one of the most important actions connected to the establishment of the Snake River Birds of Prey NCA - the 1980 withdrawal by then Secretary of the Interior Cecil Andrus, which created the current boundaries for this protected area. It was actually Dean's idea to increase the boundary of what was then called the Snake River Birds of Prey Natural Area, via an administrative withdrawal, which he suggested to Cecil Andrus on a float trip down the Snake River canyon. Dean went on to serve in a variety of public office roles throughout his long career, and he maintains that the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey NCA is the only protected area in the world whose boundaries were established based upon scientific research into the habitat requirements of the animals that live there.

Karen Steenhof has been working in the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey NCa for over 40 years as a wildlife and research biologist. The research that she conducted in the 1970s, 80s and 90s played a key role in the establishment of protection for the area. She has become one of the leading advocates for research based management of the NCA – advocating for continued raptor monitoring in the Snake River canyon, and playing an important advocacy role in the controversial decision to route a new powerline through the canyon. It was an honor to speak with Karen about her involvement in the history of the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey NCA, and we thank her for sharing her story with us.

In our fifth episode of this oral history series we are featuring our interview with Andy Ogden, a man who knows more about the Snake River Canyon than most do about their backyard. Andy was introduced to birds of prey by Morley Nelson when he was just a teenager, and Nelson quickly became a role model for Andy. When Andy was in high school Morley convinced him to take on one of the first raptor research and monitoring projects in the Snake River Canyon. Andy become fascinated by the Snake River Canyon, and as a graduate student conducted the first population assessment for Prairie Falcon populations in the region, solidifying is place in the history of this unique National Conservation Area.

This, our fourth episode of this oral history series, will feature an interview with Cecil Andrus. Andrus is probably Idaho’s best known politician - he ran for Governor of Idaho in 1970 as a Democrat and an environmentalist - and he won. Andrus also served as the Secretary of the Interior under president Jimmy Carter, where he was able to have his most dramatic influence over the establishment of a protected area in the Snake River canyon. Andrus passed away in 2017, but we’re able to hear his perspective on the Snake River Birds of Prey NCA because of an interview conducted by author Steve Stuebner in the year 2000. Stuebner conducted numerous interviews relevant to the establishment of protection for the Snake River canyon region when he was researching for his biography of Morley Nelson, “Cool North Wind”. The interviews were recorded to micro cassettes, and were donated to the Archives of Falconry once Stuebner completed his book.

Michael Kochert has been researching raptor species for over 40 years and has served in multiple capacities for the Raptor Research Foundation. He has been interested in wildlife biology since he was a child, and admits he wasn’t initially interested in birds of prey. But, it didn’t take long after his first impression in the Snake River Canyon that he would proudly called himself a “desert rat”. Michael was instrumental in researching and understanding the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area. His work was pivotal to NCA borders established by the BLM. He met Morley Nelson as a young researcher, and would end up spending the next 30 years learning from and spending time with the Snake River Canyon legend.

Steve Stuebner is the author of “Cool North Wind”, a biography of Morley Nelson. Steve spent years researching Morley’s life for this book, conducting numerous interviews and uncovering fascinating details about the creation of the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey NCA.

Our first interview is with the man who deserves the most credit for the creation of a national conservation area in the snake river canyon - Morley Nelson. Morley passed away in 2005 at the age of 88, but we uncovered this archival interview conducted in 1990 by the founder of the Archives of Falconry, Kent Carnie. The original interview was close to six hours long - we’ve edited it down to include the segments that we felt were relevant to the history of the Snake River canyon.