The governors of Idaho, Oregon and Montana offered advice on managing the West's vast public lands to the next president: Listen to the people whose lifestyles and livelihoods are at stake.
''These are real people, real lives, and there's real pain involved in each and every one of these decisions,'' Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, often mentioned as a possible cabinet selection in a Republican administration, said Thursday.
Racicot, Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber of Oregon and Republican Gov. Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho spoke to several hundred people on the theme of ''Policy After Politics'' at the annual Andrus Center for Public Policy conference.
Cecil Andrus, a former four-term Idaho governor and Democratic President Jimmy Carter's Interior secretary, hosted the daylong meeting that also included former Govs. Phil Batt of Idaho, Norm Bangerter of Utah and Mike O'Callaghan of Nevada.
The idea was tapping their experience for advice on Western land management issues to the next president - either Republican Texas Gov. George W. Bush or Democratic Vice President Al Gore.
Andrus himself set the tone, explaining that the conference's theme was aimed at getting the attention of presidential candidates who ''have a tendency to fly over us on their way to San Francisco and Seattle, where the people are, and the votes.''
''The public owns the lands, not the federal government. The federal government manages those lands for the public,'' he said. ''What we hope for, what we expect and what we're going to demand is a voice in the process.''
Kitzhaber used the debate over breaching four lower Snake River dams in eastern Washington to illustrate the point that the West should not be left on its own to weather the economic fallout of whatever federal policies are adopted.
''If it's worth it to the country to remove the dams then the country is going to have to pay for those who are affected,'' he said. ''If you want to change things, then you have to keep people whole in the process.''
Kempthorne, Kitzhaber and Racicot acknowledged they differ on issues, such as how best to restore Northwest salmon and steelhead runs and whether to reintroduce threatened grizzly bears to northern Idaho's Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. But they were unified in calling for more attention to a broad spectrum of Western voices.
''Those of us who live here have perspectives on land and water issues that are very different from those who live in the East,'' Kempthorne said. ''Since we're the ones who have to live with federal decisions, it's in our self-interest to get them done properly.''
He and Racicot cited the Clinton administration's handling of its roadless plan for 43 million acres of national forest land - including more than 8 million acres in Idaho - as a prime example of how federal edicts too often are imposed on the West from on high.
The governors agreed that a lack of openness can lead to political polarization and distract policy makers from focusing on the substance of public land issues. And each cited examples in their states of how working cooperatively with local governments, private landowners and land users can yield far better results.
Kitzhaber and Racicot said Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt seems to be leading a somewhat more inclusive approach as the Clinton administration considers using the Antiquities Act to create new national monuments in the West.
But they agreed that for the most part traditional top-down implementation of such federal laws as the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act falls short of addressing the region's interwoven and increasingly complex environmental, economic and social values.
''It's clear to me that we need to be open to new approaches,'' Kitzhaber said. ''You can't achieve that through regulation. You can't achieve that through confrontation. And you can't achieve that through litigation.''
As they spoke, Bush was delivering much the same message in Nevada, where he blasted the Clinton administration for unilaterally extending federal control over public lands.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee was joined by fellow GOP Govs. Kenny Guinn of Nevada, Jim Geringer of Wyoming and Bill Owens of Colorado on the shore of Lake Tahoe as he proposed a shift from a ''Washington-centered mindset'' on public lands issues that breeds resentment and conflict.