Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Mr. Case. Thank you, Senator. The content of my testimony is concerned mainly with those proposed wilderness areas in eastern Idaho. However, I would like to express my support for wilderness designation for the areas outlined in the Idaho Wildlife Federa tion s Endangered Idaho Wilderness Core. These 10 areas represent high quality lands that are critical to wildlife, stream quality, fish eries, and wilderness recreation. Specific areas in this region in eastern Idaho in which I support wilderness classification include the Italian Peaks, Diamond Peak, Borah Peak, the Pahsimeroi, Palisades, and Garn Mountain, Worm 742 Creek, Mount Naomi, West Mink Creek, the Pioneer Mountains, and the Boulder/White Clouds area. Most of these areas possess critical wildlife habitat. Also, those areas within the Caribou and Targhee National Forests are very accessible to the greater part of the population in southeast Idaho. The areas proposed by the proposal, I think it was, No. 4 in the Wildlife Federation, it's about 4Va million acres, is a poor economic potential for timber production. Much of the land, especially areas such as the Pioneers, Bolder/White Clouds, Borah Peak, and the Lemhis, have poor access, slow regeneration, easily erodible soils, and thin distribution of trees. The impact of logging such areas is demonstrated 2 years back on the South Fork of the Salmon River when it was open to timber harvest. They simply ruined the South Fork for salmon when they go into the spawning grounds. We keeps hearing today that the timber industry is opposed to wilderness classification because of decreasing job opportunities and threatens stability. Currently, nationwide, there is approxi mately a 40 billion board feet backlog of timber, with approximate ly a 1 billion board feet backlog in Idaho alone. Also, most of the extra timber is sent to Japan. Also, the Northwest's timber indus try cannot compete with the Southwest's timber industry without the current Federal subsidy. These subsidies, essentially, amount to the payment by the Forest Service for the construction of all access roads. A recent study by the National Resources Defense Council outlined that the Caribou, Challis, Salmon, Sawtooth, and Targhee National Forests consistently lost money in timber sales. For example, the Caribou National Forest only returned 24 cents for each dollar spent on timber sales. The Sawtooth National Forest had a 26-cent return on the dollar. This situation will not improve due to recent changes in the national forest policy that allows companies more liberal de ductions for road construction; that is, road credits. Most of the areas identified in the Idaho Wildlife Federation's wilderness pro posal cannot be logged economically because of this. The second areas I would like to address concerns release lan guage. Information that I have read indicates that you favor a hard release language. And what I understand this means is that wilder ness that is not classified would never have the chance to be con sidered in the future. I oppose this type of language in any Idaho wilderness bill and instead favor soft release language. This would allow those areas still roadless during the next planning cycle, 15 years from now, to be reevaluated. In summary, I would like to say that I support the Idaho Wildlife Federation's wilderness proposal, with emphasis on those areas identified in the Endangered Idaho Wilderness Core. We oppose hard release language for those areas not designated wilderness. Those areas in eastern Idaho previously mentioned should be desig nated as wilderness. I feel that this is especially critical with the recent announce ment that you made from your office that the Idaho National Energy Laboratory is the initial choice for the location of the new production reactor. This is going to result in a boom-type atmos phere in this part of the country, and all I can say is it's more dev astation to the wildlife area. 743 And I have one more question to ask you, Senator. I called you office three times in the past 2 weeks trying to get a copy of your proposal, the letter/questionnaire that you sent out. I had two friends of mine call three times, and I never got them.