Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

CATTLE AND HORSE GROWERS ASSOCIATION Mr. Tolman. Guess I didn't get out of bed early enough this morning, it's a little drive from Salmon, but I'm Rex Tolman; I'm a rancher in Lemhi County. I'm a Lemhi County cattleman and horse grower at the present. We have a family ranch there. We run about 250 head of beef cows and about 30 head of milk cows. But my speech will be short today, short and sweet. I will read what I've got here. Lemhi County is the fourth largest county in the State of Idaho. It consists of about 2,930,000 acres. About 240,000 acres are private ly owned. There is about 460,000 acres currently in the Salmon River Wilderness in the No Return Wilderness. In addition, there's 30,000 acres of BLM being recommended as a wilderness study, and there's three small tracts right now in the Lemhi County that is an administrative appeal. One of these wilderness administrative ap peals is one they put on my range while I have some cows up there, and I don t know why anyone would want their wilderness up there when they could go out to Bush Creek Flat and find just about as pretty an area as it is there. But, anyway, our basic indus try in the county is agriculture. There is about 85 percent of agri culture — is returned from agriculture from beef cattle. There is wood products and mining. All these industries depend on public lands. How much land can we afford to lock up? We currently have an area about the size of Rhode Island set aside for the wilderness in Lemhi County right now. Just to think of that, the State of Rhode Island; we've got that much wilderness in Lemhi County. The State has got the second most wilderness in any of the other lower States in the United States, and we are the second to the lowest paid in schools. So, I think the Government's got a little bit more locked up in wildereness than we need right now. I'm a strong believer in multiple use, and so is the association. We have done and we have been working together with lumber 723 and mining for the last 125 years, and I think that we can work as multiple use for the next years. Lemhi County Horse Growers Association would like to recom mend that the wilderness issue be resolved and that no further land be taken out of open use management in Lemhi County. I thank you.