Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Mr. Boswell. Thank you, Senator. My name is David Boswell. I'm a resident of Bonner County. I live at Route 5, Box 72, Priest River. I own and operate a small cow-calf operation in the Kanisku National Forest within the Idaho Panhandle. I'm also a director of the Northwest Conifer Co., an area sawmill, and a landowner—timberlands owner. My livelihood is largely dependent on these two pursuits. In the last few years, the forest products industry and the cattle industries have borne their share of the contractions in the national economy. I have felt the pinch as much as anybody. And I 338 know very few cattle and lumber concerns that have not been compelled at least to reevaluate all together their participation in the business during these last few years. Confronted with an insufficiency of Federal Reserve cuts is a consequence of these contractions. The richness of my life has had to be measured in other ways. I enjoy the cattlemen's lifestyle and my involvement in the forest products industry in my area. I do not enjoy beating my head against the wall. But I am resolved to persevere in the northern panhandle area if only because there exists a natural, diverse ecosystem from which I can enable to be content with the value of my life regardless of the vagrancies in my own economic circumstances. As a cattleman and a lumberman, I say we cannot afford to commercialize anymore of these areas. It will create more product supply accesses further depressing the process. Ironically, designated wilderness may, in fact, augment the economic base.