Some of the newest wilderness areas in America celebrated their 10th anniversary in August thanks to a years-long bipartisan public lands push that started in Idaho.

On Aug. 7. 2015, former President Barack Obama signed the Sawtooth National Recreation Area and Jerry Peak Wilderness Additions Act, which was sponsored by U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, into law.

The law designated three new wilderness areas for permanent protection in central Idaho:

The Hemingway-Boulders Wilderness

The White Clouds Wilderness, which has since been renamed the Cecil D. Andrus-White Clouds Wilderness

The Jim McClure-Jerry Peak Wilderness

Together, the wilderness areas are often lumped together in conversation as the Boulder-White Clouds, for short.

In an opinion piece written in July, Simpson called

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