Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

OF THE NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY, GOLDEN EAGLE AUDU BON SOCIETY Ms. Plaza. Thank you, Senator. My name is Pauline Plaza, and I am a regional representative of the National Audubon Society, speaking today on behalf of the Golden Eagle Audubon Society here in Boise. We have 440 members in this chapter, 20,000 in our region, and half a million in the Nation. The chapter supports designation of more of Idaho's pristine wild country as wilderness. We now back designation of the 4.5-million acres recommended by the Idaho Wildlife Federation, which in cludes the endangered Idaho wilderness core. A comprehensive con servationist proposal will be out in October for your consideration. Wilderness provides us a chance to preserve intact ecosystems complete with their full complement of wildlife. In Idaho, you still have wild areas that support top predators lost to other parts of the country, for example. Human life and civilization, all of our culture, depends for its ex istence on the natural processes which still operate unfettered in wilderness. We need to study these processes, learn from them, adapt to them. Failure to adapt means enormous loss of human life, human property, and financial and economic resources. Wilderness can tell us how to avoid such mistakes, how to best manage nonwilderness. Planet Earth didn't come with a book of instructions. Wilderness provides us with whatever pages of that book we can construct. The Golden Eagle Audubon Society believes that any wilderness lands that are not designated wilderness in this round of legislation should be reconsidered in the next planning cycle, or sooner, if Idaho citizens see the need for it. This option must not be fore closed. Finally, given that many timber stands in these wilderness areas cannot be economicaly managed for timber production in the longor the short-term, that many wildlife values accrue to the old growth timber, intact watersheds, pure water, clean air, solitude and other attributes of wilderness area, we urge you, Senator, to do justice to Idaho's remaining wild lands. Thank you.