Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Ms. Snyder. Good morning, Senator. I am testifying as an indi vidual in support of 6 million acres of wilderness being included in the Idaho Forest Management Act, as wilderness. I am opposed to sacrificing wildlife habitat and back country streams to erosion from unnecessary and costly logging roads. Road construction, both directly and indirectly, threatens the ex istence of viable fish and game populations within these areas. Its direct effects include disturbance of wildlife populations, increased human access into these wild areas, and stream siltation due to steep slopes and unstable soils. Indirectly, road construction, by far the most expensive item in the Forest Service budget, uses money which could be used for fish and wildlife habitat improvement. Road construction costs are so high that in the areas of the coun try it costs the Forest Service more to provide access to the timber than the agency receives in payment for the sale of this timber. During the years 1974 to 1978, the Caribou, Challis, Salmon, Saw tooth, and Targhee National Forests consistently lost money on timber sales. The Sawtooth National Forest returned only 26 cents to the Treasury for each dollar spent on timber sales. The Caribou Forest returned only 24 cents. This is because of the high cost of road construction. 630 Taxpayer subsidy to the timber industry, through costly road construction and road credits, becomes and extremely improtant issue when viewed in the context of resource tradeoffs such as wil derness opportunities foregone and loss of fish and wildlife habitat. When road costs are considered it is often better for the Treasury to leave the timber where it is. It makes no sense to destroy an area's wilderness characteristics and pay to have it done. This is what the American taxpayers, owners of these resources, are doing. Please support wilderness in the Idaho Forest Management Act. This concludes my testimony.