Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Mr. Heinrich. Thank you, Senator McClure and Senator Symms. I have visited several of the proposed wilderness areas, including Borah Peak, Little Wood River, and the Ten Mile area in the Boise National Forest. These visits brought me great pleasure, and I strongly recommend wilderness designation for all these areas. That being said, I would like to make some general comments today from the standpoint of a taxpaying citizen. As a taxpayer, I see the building of roads in national forests as an unwelcome financial burden. The costs should be shifted to the users whenever possible, and the costs to the Treasury should be kept to a minimum, especially in terms of huge Federal budget deficits. Up to now, you want to use the national forests as a timber in dustry. Up to now, the timber companies have been able to per suade the taxpayer that it pays to build roads, since the timber sales cover the costs of the roads and add dollars to the Treasury. But lately, the figures show that the Forest Service roads built with public dollars cost more than the timber companies paid for the lumber removed. As a taxpayer, I am not interested in subsidizing the timber in dustry, nor do I want to lock timber companies out of areas in the national forests which would be profitable to them and to the Fed eral Government. Therefore, I suggest that the Forest Service study all the roadless areas to determine the density and quality of the timber stands, and how much it would cost to build a road to harvest each stand. Then the timber companies will determine if they can absorb the entire cost of building roads, and still make a profit selling the logs. If they can, then the area should be released to development. If they cannot, then the area should remain wilderness. In many Idaho roadless areas, the costs of building roads is so high that it probably would be cheaper to harvest logs by helicop ter. I am also a wilderness advocate as well as a taxpayer, and I would like to close with a poem whispered to be by my good friend Doug Fir If only you knew! About forests you haven't a clue. Your greatest of goods Is protecting the woods When really the woods protect you. Ah, humans! Thank you.