Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

SOCIETY OF AMERICAN FORESTERS Mr. Kizer. Senator McClure, I am Ralph Kizer. I'm a graduate of the University of Idaho, College of Forestry, and I have recently retired from the U.S. Forest Service after more than 30 years of employment, most of it in north Idaho. I have been forest supervisor of the Kaniksu and Idaho Panhandle National Forests for the past 12 years. But I am here today representing over 500 members of the Inland Empire Society of American Foresters. I am currently chairman of this organization of professional foresters. The Society supports a complete wilderness preservation system in the United States, which includes a broad representation of major ecosystems. The society also supports the nondevelopment of many areas for primitive recreation, for quality hunting and fishing, for research, and for other non-commodity or amenity purposes. However, as professional foresters, we question the wisdom of preserving thousands of acres of commercial forest lands in addition to those already preserved. Of the 11,800 acres of the Salmo Priest RARE II area, which is in Idaho, 7,500 acres are suitable for growing timber. We recommend that the boundary be withdrawn and adjusted to exclude as much of that as possible. The Selkirk Crest area contains very little commercially important forest land, and it is now being managed for its wild land values under a joint agreement between the State of Idaho and the Forest Service. To us, this seems to be working well, and we don't think it is necessary to put it into wilderness, but the tradeoff would not be great. The Scotchman Peak proposal is much the same as the Selkirk Crest. However, there's 4,200 acres of commercially important forested land in Idaho within this area. Probably most of these areas could be excluded without detracting from wilderness values. We propose the original Mallard Larkins Pioneer Area be expanded to include the Five Lakes Butte area, but also that the boundaries be adjusted to exclude a considerable portion of the commercial forest lands within the area. Thank you.