Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Ms. Billings. Senator McClure, Congressman Craig, I am Bar bara Billings and I'm a transplant to Idaho. I came from Los Angeles about 10 years ago. And we were look ing for a State to live in to raise our family. And we chose Idaho because of the great resource that it has in its wild land. And I know that as you're considering dividing these lands into wilderness and multiple use land and so on, they're hard decisions to make. I'd like to urge you to think of the wilderness as a re source also, as well as the timber or — and so on. Because I feel that it is an economic resource. It draws tourists, it draws emigrants to the State, like myself and my family. It has a lot of hard-to-measure values. It's much easier to attach dollars and cents to the economic bene fits of timber and/or — than it is to the economic benefits of people moving in the State, tourists and so on. Because that's much bigger. I think that the places that I'm familiar with most are in the Boise Forest because we did come here for that lifestyle, so we've always used that area extensively, living in Boise. And Red Mountain is one place. I went there Sunday just so that I could say, yes, I went to Red Mountain Sunday and climbed up on top of it again. And they are so close to the city and yet so wild that it's really a rare thing and I think that it's important to con sider those areas that are still wild and yet so close to the popula tion centers. And one other pet thing I would like to mention. I guess coming from Oregon, which is a big timber producing State, I feel that the deficit timber sales are economically