Securing wild and scemc designation for rivers in the West is not an easy task, given the culture of the region. Rarely a year goes by that someone doesn't propose a low-head hydro project or new impoundment somewhere nearby. Snake River protection, the brainchild of valley sportsmen and women, conservationists and business people, was championed by the late Sen. Craig Thomas, who introduced a bill just before his death in 2007. Barrasso found resistance in Sublette County, where commissioners insisted on excluding portions of the upper Hoback River. In Lincoln County, commissioners were similarly inclined. But Barrasso drew the line at the Greys River, agreeing to remove that tributary from the legislation but insisting on retaining the popular Snake River Canyon in the bill.

In Washington last week, Barrasso faced a more formidable challenge. Idaho's Sen. Larry Craig argued in committee that the bill threatened Idaho's water rights, even though it contains explicit language declaring: ''Nothing in this Act affects valid existing rights."Wyoming's jurnor senator refuted Craig's claims that Snake River water belonged to Idaho - it owns only 96 percent of the stored water in Jackson Lake reservoir - and successfully fended off an amendment that would have expanded the power of Idaho water users.

Much of the Snake River upstream of the Wyoming-Idaho border would appear to be protected by Grand Teton National Park, wilderness areas, an alert citizenry and other factors.But the Headwaters Legacy Act would ensure that protection and recogllize the 'scemc, recreational and wildlife values that make business in Teton County hum. As witnessed by proposals to dam the main stem of the Green River in nearby Sublette County and to resurrect the failed Teton Dam west ofJackson Hole, no water impoundment scheme in the West is too grandiose, wild or improbable to be ignored. Barrasso's oversight ofthe bill will help ensure Jackson Hole residents, and the millions who visit, will not have to skirmish into the future.