You have to wonder given the Water Users' almost hysterical reaction to Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso's attempt to designate 387 miles of Snake River headwaters as part of the Wild and Scenic Rivers system. Of interest to eastern Idaho irrigators who hold the rights to 96 percent of the water stored at Jackson Lake are stretches from Jackson Lake Dam to Alpine, Wyo.

Water Users Executive Director Norm Semanko sees "manipulating federal bureaucrats" depriving Idaho of water storage "sovereignty" in how the dam is operated.

But Wild and Scenic designations protect free-flowing rivers from dams as well as gas and mineral exploration. For years, the Bureau of Reclamation often has maximized flows in this 42-mile stretch of the river for rafting and kayaking without impinging on Idaho's irrigating rights. Wild and Scenic legislation does not threaten existing uses. If it did, the 11,000-mile national system, including more than 574 miles in Idaho, would have never taken shape.

Just to make sure, Barrasso, who succeeded the late Sen. Thomas last year, inserted language into his bill stating: "Nothing in this act affects valid existing rights including interstate water compacts, water rights in the states of Idaho and Wyoming ... (and) the management of Jackson Lake or Jackson Lake Dam."

Those federal bureaucrats Semanko is worried about have assured water users they have nothing to fear. "The proposed law creating the free flowing wild and scenic stretch in Wyoming adequately protects Idaho's water rights in Jackson Lake Dam," said Diana Cross, spokesperson for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which oversees southern Idaho irrigation.

That hasn't stopped Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, from trying to undermine the Wyoming bill. He offered two amendments in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. One would have removed the Jackson Lake to Alpine, Wyo., stretch from the measure. The other would have stopped the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service from managing the river. When Craig described that as a "slight" change, it rivaled his Sept. 1 "intent" to resign in terms of veracity.

Both of Craig's amendments got shot down by lopsided committee votes.

If Semanko and Craig ratchet up the rhetoric, it could undermine other Idaho natural resource issues, notably Sen. Mike Crapo's efforts to protect the Owyhee Canyonlands. There's a chance the Wyoming river system and Crapo's Owyhee measures could be bundled together, requiring an up or down vote on the package.

Semanko has threatened to "fight this every step of the way." If that happens, the irrigators' lobby will have put its stock in myths and fear-mongering rather than facts and realities.

Wild and Scenic legislation does not threaten existing uses. If it did, the 11,000-mile national system, including more than 574 miles in Idaho, would never have taken shape.