Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Mr. STEVENSON. Thank you Senator McClure. I came to Idaho from northern Illinois early in 1954. However, my high school and college education was obtained in the mountainous and forested areas of northeastern and central Pennsylvania. From the latter background, I was able to appreciate the uniquely pristine nature of the mountains, forests, and lakes and waterways of Idaho's great central batholith and corresponding areas to the north and south east. Over the years since I first came out here I have greatly en joyed the opportunity to visit such areas as the Priest Lakes, the Middle Fork of the Salmon, Loon Creek, and Falkenberry Lake, the Sawtooth and River of No Return Wilderness areas, the Sawtooth, Lemhi, Pioneer, Centennial, and Bighole mountain ranges, and the west slope of the Tetons. As I came to realize that Idaho has such tremendous wild areas, mostly forested, I commenced to buy the topographic maps of the State. I have accumulated them in order to comprehend much of this country. My maps include the big State map and 22 pertinent maps and, where available, their geologic counterparts. These give general relationships of contours and forest cover, but for detail it was necessary to acquire the standard topo maps with scales of 100 to 124 over the years. I now have about 150 such Idaho maps, as well as quite a few from other Western States, and practically all the maps of the national forests in Idaho. So I feel that I can speak from both direct and from detailed recorded information. It I don't remember the feature of interest, I know where to find it, includ ing the use of the map files of our public library. From my direct acquaintance, my own maps and others to which I have access, and by examination of the following principal docu ments, I firmly believe that Idaho can well afford to almost double the acreage of its relatively forested wilderness lands as compared to what it now has, which is about 3.8 million, and that this need not adversely affect the timber industry to a significant degree. This takes into consideration both the arid nature of much of the area, destructive biological forces now seriously damaging and costly harvesting practices now required. 725 Documents of interest include but are not limited to appendix G to the final EIS for RAKE II, the Idaho Fish and Game Department Special Alert, the ICL May /June Newsletter Wilderness Supple ment, the Idaho Wilderness Alert published by ICL, the Eastern Idaho Wilderness Alert distributed by Portneuf Audubon Society and others. High on my list for nearby wilderness definition are Italian Peaks, Lower and Upper Lemhis, Borah and Leaterman Peaks, Garns Mountain and Palisades, Mount Naomi and Cache Crest, Stump and Worm Creeks. Other very important areas are Salmo-Priest, Upper Priest Lake, the Selkirks peaks near the northern boundary of' Idaho, Scotch man to Spion Kop, and the Mallard-Larkings and Big Burn area. When and if Idaho wilderness legislation is developed, I recom mend that it not include hard release language, that the option to continue proper management as wilderness be left to the Forest Service for the future. Thank you.