Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Ms. Udy. I'm Elizabeth Udy. I came to the Leadore area in 1936, and I'm still a rancher in the Big Eight Mile area. I appreciate this opportunity to bring in a petition from David Udy that was unable to come this morning. He had planned to be here, and so this is his petition. As a rancher of the Leadore area, I am concerned about the sales of the Big Eight Mile and the Mill Creek timber of the Leadore District of the Salmon National Forest. As a community and also as an individual, we have opposed this sale for the last 10 years. This is timber of poor quality and is a slow regeneration area. Also, this is a calving ground for elk, and logging of this area would push the elk out of this area. The Forest Service argues that the elk are on the increase and would not be affected; however, it is my opinion that the elk were not on the in crease until they logged the Swan Basin area on the south and the Hayden Creek area on the north and pushed the elk from both di rections into this area. Also, logging would cause roads that would make the area more accessible for cattle rustling and poaching of game. The way this forested area has been managed in the past has been suitable and working fine, which should be apparent to the Forest Service by the letters and petitions against their decision to timber this area. But it is apparent that the Forest Service cannot live with some thing that works. They seem to feel if they are not destroying, they are not managing. So rather than seeing what we have destroyed by poor Forest Service management, I would like to see this area put back into the wilderness study. However, in the wording of the wilderness bill concerning graz ing of livestock, I would like to see it changed from may be permit ted to graze to shall be permitted to graze. Also, I would like to see added to the bill that the continued use of power tools for trail clearing and maintenance of existing trails was permitted. I also would like to see a proposal put into the bill so that ranch ers of the area could, by primitive methods, continue to have access to poles and posts for fencing, and also firewood. And may I make a comment on that. As I was saying, for all these years ranching there, that we have snow; we have high water runoff in the spring, and we are about out in August; many of them are turned off. And I feel that we need all the trees we can 774 hold up there to hold the snow and bring this later water that we need so badly. And the whole community depends on it. We have little stores there in Leadore County that we get a few groceries from, and our gas. Now, those stores depend upon the prosperity of the ranchers. And if the ranchers dry up and leave, well, what ones were left would have to go around 50 miles to Salmon to get a gallon of milk or fill our gas tanks. And, therefore, I think it's very important that we do this. And I would like to present the map presented by Dr. Smith from Salmon, I copied it, that this would be approved by the community in general. I like multiple use, but I do like to have a watershed and summer water. Thank you.