Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

CONSERVATION LEAGUE Mr. Crawford. I am Tim Crawford. We have altered the list of the speakers for reasons that are known only to ourselves, not to stack a deck or anything, but being the vice president of the Idaho Conservation League, it was felt I should lead off. I hope that's all right. That's fine with me. Mr. Crawford. Again, I am Tim Crawford 75 The Chairman. If it's fine with everybody else at the table. And that may be the only unanimous decision we have all day. [Laugh ter.] Mr. Crawford. I am vice chair of the Idaho Conservation League. We bring no specific recommendations for wilderness areas to be included in your wilderness bill with the exception of Long Canyon and the White Cloud-Boulder Mountains. The reason for this is that we are still working diligently on boundary definitions of those areas that we think should be includ ed in any wilderness bill for Idaho. On May 31 we told you, Senator McClure, that we needed a full field season to complete site-by-site factual analysis. We still think that an additional 2 to 3 months' work in order to define area boundaries with great care to achieve the best possible recommen dations is not unreasonable. We are not trying to delay the process or confuse issues, areas, or boundaries. On the contrary, we are trying to make sure ample and adequate attention is given to the 6V2 million acres of roadless national forest land from which the wilderness areas in your bill will come. The task of defining these areas and boundaries is enormous and cannot be properly accomplished in a hurry. You will hear from others speaking today about the specifics of our field studies and why they are needed. Although we have not prepared a statewide proposal, we have prepared a list of ten areas which we consider Idaho's Endangered Wilderness Core. That is to say, we consider these areas to be most immediately apt to be roaded if they are not given wilderness status. I will enumerate those areas and a brief description of each is attached to this testimony: Salmo-Priest, Long Canyon-Selkirk Crest, Mallard-Larkins, Great Burn-Cayuse Creek, Payette Crest, Sawtooth Completion, White Cloud-Boulder Mountains, Northern Lemhis, Palisades, and Gams Mountain. Thank you.