Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Mr. Yoder. My name is Charles Yoder. I am the chairman of the Middle Snake Group of the Sierra Club located here in southwest Idaho and I speak on behalf of about 425 members. I would like to start with the observation that the word 'conser vation' and 'conservative' spring from the same root. I think con servation is a conservative concept and wilderness is a conservative cause. Conservative recognizes the truth of the law of supply and demand and wilderness is a resource that is in an ever-decreasing supply and ever-increasing demand and will inevitably become ever more valuable. Conservative recognizes that all enterprises must live within their means. A household that violates this principle goes bank rupt. A government that violates this principle inevitably brings on raging inflation. An ecosystem that violates this principle and the management of an ecosystem violation of this principle will inevi tably exact a cost in the ecological quality of the land. A conservative takes the long-term view. A conservative respects the roots from which he or she has grown. Only in a wilderness, isolated from the works of our own making, can we truly understand and restore our relationship to the Earth and the power that created man as a part of it. A conservative knows that it is a poor bargain to trade an irre placeable capital asset for a short-term gain no matter how worthy that short-term gain is. A conservative does not make hasty decisions affecting funda mental resources. The Sierra Club is not now prepared to make boundary or acre age recommendations. We will be in October and expect to ap proach our proposal in a conservative manner. Thank you.