Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Ms. Burgel. I'm Linda Burgel of Pocatello. I'm a housewife and a mother. I returned late last night from a 30-mile backpacking trip so that I could be here today to testify. My two children, who are 8 and 10, were with us on the backpacking trip and walked the entire 30 miles. I really appreciate this opportunity to voice my concern regard ing wilderness in Idaho. Presently we have 3.8 million acres in the national wilderness system and I support including at least onehalf of the remaining 6.5 million roadless acres in this system. This will protect critical areas for fish and wildlife habitat and for recre ation. I have personal experience with two of the areas that are under consideration. Our family enjoys exploring new areas in Idaho by foot, by canoe, or on cross-country skis. In late June this year, my children and I spent a week backpacking in two of the many drain ages in the Palisades area in the Snake River Range. We hiked miles seeing abundant tracks of moose, elk, deer, and even bear. No tire tracks were visible anywhere. The snow had just begun to melt at 8,000 feet and the spring beauties, alpine buttercups, and other early flowers were just emerging. The children watched the initial formation of streams as the noon Sun caused rivulets of water in the previously dry trail. They began learning how to use a map and compass to navigate. Most importantly, they learned the joy of being self-contained and spending several days hiking and getting to know a new area. We also enjoy returning to familiar areas near Pocatello. The West Fork of Mink Creek in the Caribou National Forest not only provide a portion of the culinary water for Pocatello, but also is a prime hiking and cross-country ski trail. Imagine gliding uphill through untracked powder snow under a crystal clear blue sky and emerging into a wide meadow filled with beaver ponds. That expe rience is the West Fork of Mink Creek in the winter. By the way, the packing area there is maintained by funds col lected by the Park and Ski Sticker Fund. I urge Senator McClure to include the endangered Idaho Wilder ness Core in his legislation for the protection of crucial wildlife and fisheries habitat. I oppose the hard release concept. Soft release would allow our children a chance to study remaining roadless areas for possible wilderness designation in the future. Perhaps, with early exposure to the joys of wilderness, they will be able to make better informed decisions than we or our forefathers have sometimes made regarding the use of the land. Thank you.