Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Ms. Mauser. Thank you. Thank you, Senator McClure. My name is Laurie Mauser. And I'm an 11-year resident of Coeur d’Alene and a fourth or fifth generation native of Idaho from eastern Idaho. I am opposed totally to quick and permanent decisions on Idaho's wilderness and roadless areas. I am adamantly opposed to roadless areas being released for other that wilderness designation. My understanding is that road construction both indirectly and directly threatens the existence of viable fish and game populations. Road construction to facilitate logging or other commercial operations both increase human access and causes increased stream siltation where soils are unstable as well as general scenic degradation. And roads are expensive. I would prefer funds for any proposed federally funded roads be spent otherwise. Limited use of designated and existing roadless areas make these areas far more valuable to me even though I may never see or step foot in any of them. I hold in high value the untouched or nearly untouched solitude of Idaho's scenic wonder, thriving populations of big game and nongame animals, and fish populations as well. I heartily endorse porposals to preserve the more than 3.8 million acres of designated wilderness and proposals to designate more wilderness in the State's 6.5 million acres of roadless areas. These areas have been roadless and in most cases untouched for thousands of years prior to Idaho's settlement. There is no hurry now to determine how these lands will be managed for the future. If, indeed, it is important now to decide, then this can only mean that these lands must be special and preservation, then, is tantemount. I heartily support the important Salmo-Priest, Selkirk Crest, Scotchman's Peak, Mallard-Larkin, and Grandmother Mountain areas for wilderness designation as well as Long Canyon. Thank you.