Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Mr. DiBello. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today, Senator. My name is Ed DiBello. I am a registered mechanical en gineer in the State of Idaho. I have resided in the intermountain west for the past 20 years and have been a resident of Idaho for the past 10. I live with my family in the Western States by choice. The area, Idaho in particular, offers unparallelled recreational opportu nities. Idaho and the West stand at a crossroad. We can easily take the path to more development and less wilderness. I favor the path toward increased wilderness designation. The fact that Idaho, with 3.8 million acres of designated wilderness, has the largest wilder ness system in the lower 48 States should be a source of pride. The fact that we wish to place more land into the wilderness designa tion reflects well on the foresight of the residents of the State. We must conserve the lands and our resources for the future. Idaho is a unique State that should not repeat the failures and mistakes of other States. We have the opportunity to plan our future, conserve our resources, and leave a legancy of responsible land management for future residents. You may ask why an engineer, who develops and builds, comes down on the side of wilderness? The key factor is trust. I do not trust the current administration, nor future administrations, nor resource developers to be good stewards of the land if they are not regulated, pressured, or otherwise made to be good stewards. If we repeat our past and turn our prime watersheds into waste lands, we all will lose. The western ecology is a fragile one; this has been demonstrated many times. A compromise on wilderness areas may be necessary, and this hearing process may well result in com promise. However, I support maximizing the lands designated for wilderness in the State. I would rather err on the side of conserva tion than on the side of overdevelopment and exploitation. Thank you. Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Ms. Carol Whittaker.