A proposal has been agreed upon by both preservationists and mountain bikers that would protect Idaho’s Boulder-White Clouds area as a national monument, and the several groups involved are preparing to present it to the Obama administration.

There were representatives from the Idaho Conservation League, Wood River Bicycle Coalition, International Mountain Bicycling Association, and The Wilderness Society involved in establishing the details of the proposal over several months. In it, zones were created that will help protect the area’s wilderness characteristics and will preserve the current mountain bike access to the area north of Ketchum-Sun Valley, which is popular among the athletes.

According to the Idaho Statesman, the 500,000-acre area is managed by the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management under the Antiquities Act of 1906.

“The Boulder-White Clouds is a spectacular landscape, and its valued for many reasons,” Brett Stevenson, executive director of the Wood River Bicycle Coalition, said in a news release. “It warrants National Monument protection and that protection can and should balance wilderness character with mountain biking and other forms of low-impact recreation that are compatible with conservation objectives.”

According to White House officials, President Obama will designate a 1,665-acre nature preserve on the coast of California as a national monument. Earlier this month, Congress passed its first wilderness bill since 2009, which would protect 32,500 acres of Michigan’s Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. There are other areas throughout the country playing into the discussion as well.

The Washington Post article that reported on the statement from White House officials regarding the California national monument also noted the Boulder-White Clouds region and said, “Another wilderness area that the administration is considering protecting encompasses 500,000 acres in east-central Idaho.”

The Boulder-White Clouds proposal seeks to prevent further erosion in the area.

“I have watched for a decade with both trepidation and great hope, as our collective communities navigated a challenging yet important task of finding common ground on how to manage this iconic landscape,” said Michael Van Abel, president of the International Mountain Bicycling Association. “I am pleased to see that in today’s often divisive atmosphere, we have reached an agreeable solution and can stand united on what the future of the Boulder-White Clouds should look like.”

Image from Fredlyfish4 on Wikimedia Commons