Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

SIERRA CLUB Mr. Maughan. Thank you, Senator McClure, I'm glad to be here today. I am the Pacific Northwest vice president for the Sierra Club and also the chair of the Eastern Idaho Group, and I'm speak ing for myself because some of my views may be at variance. I agree with you that it's time to settle the wilderness issue here in Idaho; it's something I've been working on for 12 years and you've been working on longer. And I think that we've designated a lot of fine wilderness areas in Idaho and I do expect that 1 11 per sonally support the conservationist's alternative when its drawn up, but I've become convinced that the conservation organizations are devoting all too many resources to the wilderness question when there are better ways to preserve the land. And it appears to 597 me that one of the major problems we have is that these lands are high and unproductive, and that's why they're still roadless by and large, and were it not for the subsidies which are being granted the timber industry, most likely they never would be developed. And I'm a strong supporter in the free market system and I believe that there's got to be a good reason before a subsidy is granted. And so what I'm going to recommend to environmental organizations is that they devote less of their resorces to wilderness classification and more of it in the future to illuminating these artificial subsi dies that are being given to the timber industry. I've done extensive hikind throughout Idaho and my wife and I in fact are now editing a book called Hiking Guide to Idaho. I'll present in my written testimony specific comments about these areas but there's not time today. I would like to say a word about oil and gas. We first heard about most of it, the Idaho Overthrust Belt, in 1976 when large dis coveries were made in Wyoming and Utah. The Overthrust Belt seems to be an interesting geological concept, however which seems to expand or contract according to political criteria rather than ge ological criteria. If we had as much oil and gas discovered in the Idaho Overthrust Belt as we've had in press releases from the oil industry about how much is here, I Think the country would be in good shape. I would like to point out that only a small part of the Idaho Overthrust Belt is restricted right now from oil and gas ex ploration and it's almost totally leased, and these leases run for 10 years. If the oil and gas industry can't find enough money to ex plore adequately the road and development portions of the Overth rust Belt, I don't know why they need to go into Palisades, Italian Peaks, Borah Peak, Mount Naomi, and Warm Creek. And as a matter of act, Italian Peaks, Mount Naomi, and Palisades are being explored at the present time under restrictive clauses which allow them to drill but they have to restore the land afterward; and there have been two unsuccessful wells in the Palisades which have been completed, and since, they've been obliterated. So I think that there are really no conflicts between oil and gas exploration in eastern Idaho because the Overthrust Belt is so large and appropriate wilderness designation. Thank you very much.