Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Mr. Mabe. Thank you. Being a fisherman, hunter, backpacker, and actively involved in agriculture, deciding what I personally would like to see done with Idaho public lands, both State and Fed eral, has not been an easy decision to reach. I have enjoyed many trips, both afoot and horseback, into Idaho's existing wilderness areas. However, I have also enjoyed a greater number of trips into multiple use areas that has previously been logged or had seen limited mining. Many times the marks left by previous inhabitants have added to, rather than detracted from, the asthetic value of an area. However, this does not mean that I favor all projects applying to developmental permits. Projects the size of the Cyprus Mine in Challis need to be developed very carefully and I am concerned about the Challis area, due to the Cyprus project. I'm also concerned about the effect that additional wilderness would have on many communities and less densely populated coun ties of Idaho whose economy is based on mining, timber, and agri cultural industries and whose local government services, 3uch as roads and schools, which have been supplemented by Federal land payments. Although wilderness areas are fine places for extended trips, they are oftentimes, due to their nature, very difficult to enjoy on a weekend outing and the majority of the people who head for the hills on a tight time schedule and would not be able to go at all if more time were needed for the trip. There are also those who, because of age, physical conditions, or handicaps, are not able to go into wilderness or no motor vehicle areas. These people would be far better off to have all the wilder ness areas sold off to private concerns, developed and put onto tax rolls. However, this would not be fair to those of us who enjoy and use these areas. On the other hand, to put Idaho into a position where the largest planned industry is recreation is to place our State into an economy that is more susceptible to economic swings and fads or hobbies of people from other areas. I feel that with good, cooper ative management from all interested parties, both private