Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

PACIFIC CORP. Mr. Jones. I'm Bill Jones, resource manager for Louisiana-Pacific Corp. at Priest River, Idaho. Louisiana-Pacific agrees with the Members of the Idaho congressional delegation who feel the Idaho wilderness issue has lingered for too long and needs to be settled during this Congress. In regards to specific recommendations, we feel the Salmo Priest roadless area should not be designated wilderness, but rather should be managed under the concept of miltiple-use management. There is concern by some people for the small group of caribou which apparently spend most of their time in British Columbia, but have in the past wandered into north Idaho and northeastern Washington. Some people feel the Salmo Priest should be included in the wilderness system in order to preserve the caribou. We feel that caribou do not require wilderness to survive. The greatest cause of unnatural mortality to the caribou appears to be illegal hunting. Mandatory road closures of all new access roads into caribou habitat and public education would alleviate the threat of illegal hunting. Also, approximately 80 percent of the proposed Salmo Priest wilderness area is not prime caribou habitat. At this time the Forest Service has identified approximately 210,000 acres on the Colville and Panhandle National Forests where caribou should be considered in management plans for the area. We feel this will adequately safeguard caribou habitat.