Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Mr. Hanson. Thank you, Senator. I'm here not representing any body in particular except my wife and my family. We are 6-year residents of Idaho, prior to that we have lived in New York City, Cleveland, Chicago, Los Angeles, and other places. Understandably we are Idahoans by choice, and I'm a Lutheran minister by voca tion. I suppose I could be bold to speak on behalf of the Creator of the areas that are under designation. Others have felt bold to do so, and I think I might do that. I do not fish, I do not hunt, I backpack very little; I have many members who do, many of them, seeming ly, on Sunday morning. I do not resent that. If they are out there working on their doctrine of creation, we can take care of the rest of it in other ways and at other times. And it's because we don't use those areas particularly in the same way that a lot of the people here do that I still propose to speak on behalf of the expan sion of the wilderness areas in the State of Idaho. I don't think that using them has to be a part of appreciating them. I'm interest ed vitally in stewardship as a whole lifestyle, as a way of living not only in individuals, but of the whole Nation. As stewards of re sources of God, one of things we have to be very careful of is not to make short-range decisions. I think as a religious people but also as a people of this Nation and as a political people, it's vital that we think in terms of centur ies. It would be very easy to think in terms of short-term gains and not find good solutions for clear problems. Being stewards means, among other things, that things do not have to be used in order to be valuable. If they simply are, if they simply can be, and be al lowed to be as they were, that, I think, is in itself valuable. Our family travels a great deal and any number of times I will point out to my family either a given mountain or rocks or boul ders and say, kids, in most other places we have lived they would make that a State park. Idaho has those in abundance, but they are not the less valuable because they are abundant, but, I think, the more valuable. So, again, I urge you to think in terms of centuries to save the heritage that we have, to find other ways and, I think, even better ways to meet the pressing financial needs and to treasure the re sources that by God’s grace Idaho has. Thank you.