Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Mr. Wilson. Senator McClure, I'd like to note that there is some letters here from the Clark County people that are against the wil derness that I brought down and submit here today. And, also, that wilderness, who will benefit if the national forest are made accessi ble only by horse or foot? Only a very small percent can enjoy the national forest. The people that have the time to enjoy are the eld erly, and surely they can't do it by walking or on horseback. About the only ones that will enjoy the national forest will be the forest service personnel and what few backpackers there are. The forest service land plays a very important role in our lives, more than recreation. All the people of the United States depends on what minerals, forestry, and grazing lands there are in this na tional forest. I am sure that the people of this land would not like to go with out the wood to make their homes or their cars, planes, or phones, which all come from the minerals of the forest lands. Nor would they like to go without meat which the cattle provide, and they are raised on these grazing lands. Who is it that really wants to put everything into wilderness? You always hear the environmentalists and Sierra Club saying more wilderness, but has anyone really looked into who is pushing for more wilderness? The wilderness studies are under a lot of different headings, like the Targhee Proposed Land Management Plan or RARE I, II, and IE, then they become the biosphere reserve studies. There are 27 biosphere reserve studies going on in the United States today. I got very curious one day about the biosphere reserve and who was behind it, so I went to my local library and did some research. I found that there was even another organization behind the bio sphere reserve called UNESCO, which stands for the U.N. Educa tional, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. I asked myself, who is UNESCO? I did some more looking and found that it is run by socialist countries. I do not believe that these countries — I do not believe that these countries should be al lowed to tell us how to run our country, or be in any part of the wilderness study in any way. I do not believe that the wilderness plan is beneficial to anyone in any way. It does more damage than good. Now, the UNESCO organization, I found this information right out of our library. Anybody is accessible to it if they go and do a study on biosphere and who is backing it. This UNESCO is an orga nization that is funding the study of the wilderness. They make a decision of what should go in the wilderness, what shouldn't. And I 32-426 0-84 4» 770 found — have not found yet anything that they have turned down. Thank you.