Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Ms. Gorman. My name is Jeanette Gorman. I represent no spe cial interest group. I would like to thank Senator McClure and Representative Craig for providing an opportunity for an ordinary citizen to share his or her opinion. I believe I am like the majority of Idaho citizens in that I work, I am a parent, I am involved in some community groups, and I care. I care about what happens in Idaho. I would also like to say I have a lot. I have two children, a spouse, a house, a car — those aren't necessarily ranked in order. I have a lot to be thankful for. The one thing I have very little of, though, is time. And I think what that kind of — what was just maybe illustrated, it's the common citizen like me sometimes that doesn't have the time to spend on gathering statistics and trying to figure out the semantics and the linguistics. I think a lot of us react on gut feelings, and that's why I'm here, I know. You, Senator McClure and Representative Craig — you are so lucky in that you have staff to brief you on issues, research the problems, provide you with facts, define hard release and soft re lease for you, and surround you with statistics. I wish that I had a staff. Then I could ask them to research my base feelings and provide me with support for those. However, I don't, and I apologize for not having any statistics and hard facts because that is sometimes what sells certain view points. What I do have, though, is strong feelings that I would like to share. We, in Idaho, are so lucky to have acres and acres of un touched wilderness. I feel we have to protect that wilderness, not only for the citizens of Idaho, but citizens of the whole United States and, really, the whole world. This is where I wish I had some statistics. When you look at the developed areas of the United States versus the undeveloped areas, it appears obvious that we've devel oped far more than we've left alone. In some cases we've developed it well with a multiple use concept,