Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Mr. Bruns. Honorable McClure, ladies and gentlemen, my name is John Bruns. I am a forester living in St. Maries, Idaho. I am representing and am employed by Edwards Investments, buying timber for two sawmills. Our log and pulp needs are 60 million board feet of saw timber per year and 30 million board feet of pulp in a normal economic year. The past 4 years have not qualified as such. Further delay in releasing roadless areas to production or additional commitments to our existing designated wilderness will be detrimental to the economy of north Idaho as well as many companies. Where are the figures and studies that verify that we need more wilderness? Who will fund and pay for these studies? Ironically the industries that many are attempting to place out of business by increasing this nonproductive land designation are paying. Many of the very people and groups that advocate more wilderness are the very people that say we need to change our lifestyle—that is, we must conserve more and waste less. By avocating wilderness they are advocating waste on a large scale that is astronomical. To not utilize a renewable resource when it is mature is wrong. To lose the growth capability of good timber sites due to overmature timber stands is wrong. To have entire drainages burn from wild fire due to lack of vegetation management is wrong for water quality as well as wildlife. Have we become this affluent that we can afford this waste?