Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Mr. Crail. Thank you, sir. I want to thank you for the opportuni ty to express my views here. Although everyone seems to disagree with the results of RARE II — prowilderness wants to quite a bit 741 antiwilderness wants far less — I do hope Senator McClure is not ignoring the outstanding efforts and results of Rare II. If the Senator is interested in his constituents' opinions, a close more while look at the Rare II report would be quite interesting. Idaho citizens supplied 44,000 inputs with 54,000 signatures. Here we are again. I do regret time restrictions do not permit evening sessions so the site and other workers could attend; I'm sure they'd want to spend another 8 hours here to give testimony. RARE El's evening session in Idaho Falls drew a packed house at the University Place auditorium which holds over 300 people. The RARE II study was performed by professional Forest Service per sonnel who are knowledgeable in timber and mining evaluation. My understanding is lands with known or suspected deposits or marketable timber were excluded from consideration. This means RARE II was already a comprise and not a Carter wish list. I feel the citizens of Idaho have given a great deal of time and effort into RARE II, which hopefully won't be overruled in these short few meetings. The people of Idaho have repeatedly shown a desire for additional wilderness. One of the arguments against additional wilderness has been the economic impact of removing Federal lands from multiple use. A month ago I heard an Idaho Falls radio announcer comment that the State of Idaho spent $60,000 in the Salt Lake area on vacation ing in Idaho. The same broadcast stated tourism is the second larg est industry in Idaho. According to the Idaho State Economic and Community Affairs Division, agriculture is first with tourism, mining, manufacturing, and timber too close to call for second. Last year a forest ranger at Sun Valley counted over 100 groups on a Sunday afternoon hiking in a nearby wilderness. There is no doubt that wilderness areas are becoming major tourist attractions. I would like to see the results of RARE II implemented with ad ditional acreages added to make the total closer to 2.3 million. To that end, I support the Idaho fish and game additional requests. I would also like to support Garns Mountain, Borah Peak, and the Palisades area. But, most of all, I would like to support Wyoming for wilderness status for the west slope of the Tetons. It may be Wyoming, but Idaho kind of lays claim to that area. I hope Senator McClure will be able to support one of Idaho's largest industries by adding the excellent work already started by RARE II. Thank you.