Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Mr. Oehler. Mike Oehler, Senator. This is to respectfully request that you include in your bill Salmo Priest and Long Canyon as areas to be designated wilderness. No doubt you'll get a lot of testimony today regarding the beauty of these areas. Magnificent, awe inspiring, inspirational * * * these are some of the words you may hear to describe them. They are, in fact, two of the real jewels of the Northwest. I think it would be folly to log small portions of these areas. Let me draw a parallel. What if, say, a community owned several paintings worth millions of dollars. Would it be wise to slice out portions of the paintings to sell them? No, because it would destroy the value of the paintings as a whole. And to log selected portions of these areas would bring small gain while ruining the areas as a whole. And, as the few remaining wilds in America are systematically being developed, those which are left will increase in value. Some people like to point out that Idaho already has more wilderness than any other State in the lower 48. They use this as a rationale for not expanding the system. How unfortunate this attitude is may be seen in these parallels. Los Angeles has more movie industry and New York more money exchange than any other places in the Nation, but it would hardly be in LA's interest to prohibit more movie stars, or in New York's to limit the money markets. Each area must capitalize on the features which make it unique. Though logging is one of our most important industries, 164 and is a dangerous, hard and honorable profession, it is not what makes Idaho unique, for logging takes place in many States in the Union. It is wilderness that makes Idaho unique.