Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Mr. Hatch. Chairman McClure, my name is John Hatch. I am a resident of Boise and am testifying today as an individual citizen. Mr. Chairman, I'm a native Idahoan, born and raised in Weiser and grew up camping, hunting, fishing, and hiking in Idaho's mountains. There is no person that will testify here today that has a greater love and respect for Idaho and her glorious mountains, rivers, lakes and streams, and fish and wildlife than I do. But I firmly believe that the management of Idaho's national forest lands for the optimum utilization of all of the natural re sources contained thereon is compatible with the long-term integri ty of the State's natural beauty and abundant fish and wildlife. In fact, proper management can enhance all of these resources. But wilderness classification precludes management and deprives the majority of the citizens of the benefits of these resources. Wil derness is antipeople and contrary to the principle of equal oppor tunity for all people that this country was founded on. I would like to briefly relate a story that exemplifies how the av erage citizen is being forced off the public lands. A number of years ago my wife and I decided to go camping at Stanley Basin, which is just north of the Sawtooth National Wil derness area. The campgrounds around the lake were completely full. But that didn't matter, since we didn't like camping in developed camp grounds anyway. We followed a road up the creek that emptied into the west end of the lake and found a beautiful place to camp a few hundred yards from the lake. A sign by the road said that it was 7 miles up the road to a wil derness trailhead. We set up our tent camp alongside the road just a few hundred yards from one of the most heavily used recreation al areas in the State and spent a glorious weekend completely by ourselves. The next year we packed all our gear on our old orange pickup and headed back for the same spot. But when we got to Stanley Lake, we found that the Forest Service had built a barricade across the road that went back up the creek and a big sign said no motor ized vehicles beyond this point. We had to go camping elsewhere.