{"id":19472,"date":"2023-01-25T10:31:04","date_gmt":"2023-01-25T18:31:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/?p=19472"},"modified":"2025-08-21T12:36:26","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T20:36:26","slug":"greater-idaho-gaining-momentum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/greater-idaho-gaining-momentum\/","title":{"rendered":"Momentum builds for “Greater Idaho” Movement in Eastern Oregon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by: Mirella Barrera-Betancourt<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Senate Joint Memorial 2 \u2014more popularly dubbed the \u201cGreater Idaho\u201d bill\u2014 was introduced to the Oregon legislature by Republican Sen. Dennis Linthicum on Jan. 10.\u200b\u200b <\/span><\/p>\n

If passed, the bill will seek out discussions regarding readjustments and relocations of Oregon and Idaho state lines. The bill will not set the secession into motion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fifteen eastern counties have been proposed to move to the state of Idaho \u2014 together, they take up approximately 65% of Oregon’s land mass and roughly 9% of the population. As of Jan. 11, 2023, 11 of the 15 Eastern Oregon counties have already voted in favor of joining Idaho, including Klamath, Lake, Union, Grant, Sherman, Morrow, Wheeler, Baker, Malheur, Jefferson and Harney. Wallowa County is next in line to vote on the prospect of joining Idaho in their upcoming May election.<\/span><\/p>\n

The idea behind the \u201cGreater Idaho\u201d bill initially began with the \u201cGreater Idaho\u201d movement \u2014 or \u201cMove Oregon\u2019s Border for a Greater Idaho\u201d \u2014  in early 2020, led by Mike McCarter from La Pine, Oregon. The movement’s aim was to convince Oregon legislatures to readjust the Oregon\/Idaho border to move conservative Eastern Oregon counties into the state of Idaho \u2014 a largely Republican state \u2014 in an effort to realign cultural differences.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEastern Oregon is culturally, politically, (and) economically much more similar to Idaho than it is to western Oregon,\u201d said Matt McCaw, a spokesperson for the \u201cGreater Idaho\u201d movement. \u201cOur movement is about self-determination and matching people to (the) government that they want and that matches their values.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Oregon has a long-standing history, with its border set almost 200 years ago. However, McCaw argues that the border was enacted at a time with no cultural and political divisions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe policy and the government that works for western Oregon, that western Oregonians want, does not work in eastern Oregon and it\u2019s not what eastern Oregonians want,\u201d said McCaw.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the \u201cGreater Idaho\u201d movement gains momentum across much of the Eastern Oregon counties, many Oregon residents are left questioning whether such redistricting is likely.<\/span><\/p>\n

McCaw is confident, stating, \u201cWe absolutely believe this is possible \u2026 If that does not happen this session then we will keep trying in the next session.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This is not the first time discussions have occurred regarding changes in state boundaries. <\/span><\/p>\n

In 1958, the Oregon boundary between the state of Washington was slightly amended, known as the Senate Joint Resolution 10. The measure authorized the modification of Washington state boundaries along the Columbia River.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to \u201cGreater Idaho\u201d official website, there are two phases to the movement, the second which includes the eventual merging of Northern California into Idaho\u2019s state line. Northern California counties included in the proposal include all or parts of Siskiyou, Shasta, Tehama, Del Norte, Modoc and Lassen. Such planning, however, would be part of a future phase.<\/span><\/p>\n

For more information about the \u201cGreater Idaho\u201d movement, visit their official website at www.greateridaho.org, or read the Senate Joint Memorial 2 bill at https:\/\/olis.oregonlegislature.gov. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1094,"featured_media":19473,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"\"Greater Idaho\" Movement Gains Traction - The Western Howl","_seopress_titles_desc":"Learn about the \"Greater Idaho\" movement as counties weigh joining Idaho. Uncover the the cultural and political motivations driving this initiative.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"modified_by":"Jared Montgomery","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1094"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19472"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22873,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19472\/revisions\/22873"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}