Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

GREEN FOREST PRODUCTS, INC., AS PRESENTED BY ROBERT COATES Mr. Coates. Senator McClure, Congressman Craig, I am Robert Coates representing Robert Hitchcock, president of Evergreen Forest Products. We use predominantly Federal timber in the manufacture of di mension lumber which comes from the Payette National Forest. Therefore, my remarks will be to the Payette National Forest. Timber harvesting on the Payette Forest has increased slowly over the years. We are reaching a peak of 113.3 million feet in fiscal year 1966. It has since than declined. And in 1971 it was down to 80 million, and since reduced even further. The downward trend in timber harvesting is a result of many dif ferent factors, including reductions in U.S. Forest Service timber sale preparation budgets, a decrease in timber demand with closure of the Boise Cascade mill at McCall, the quality of the timber sales offered by the Forest Service, and the recent recession. 57 It is interesting to note, however, that during the past 10 years, the Forest Service estimate of the potential yield has increased by 16 percent. Mr. Chairman, when Congress decides which, if any, roadless areas in southwestern Idaho should be added to the national Wil derness System, you should remember one key statistic: 40 percent of the productive forestland on the Payette Forest has already been set aside as wilderness. By comparison, only 13 percent of the entire National Forest System has been and 19 percent of all na tional forestland. Although wilderness has been portrayed by the environmental proponents at this hearing as vital to the survival of animal popu lations and necessary for primitive recreation —