Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Mr. Suhr. My name is Dave Suhr, and I am presenting this testimony on behalf of Mr. Stan Huff who has been a resident of Idaho all his life, and has practiced as a professional geologist for Asarco for nearly 28 years. We, as many others, wish to see the RARE II process end, and certainly do not want a RARE III. We are all advocates of wilderness to some degree; but, first and foremost, we must live in the real world where we are entirely dependent on the basic industries. Realization of this is the key to a rational solution to the wilderness-development standoff. We recognize the need for wilderness and the need for land to be available for multiple use, but the piecemeal allocation of public lands to virtually nonuse status is completely unacceptable. Our record of stewardship in Idaho's public lands shows that our piecemeal allocations began in 1931 by the setting aside the Idaho In 1964, the Wilderness Act included 989,000 acres in the Welway-Bitterrot Wilderness and designated a study for 'wilderness suitability' the Idaho Primitive Area of 1.2 million acres, the Salmon River Breaks Area of 217,000 acres, and the 200,000 acres of the Sawtooth Primitive Area. The Sawtooth was later included in the wilderness list. In 1968, the Middle Fork of the Salmon River was designated a Wild River. In 1974, the Sawtooth Wilderness Area was included in the new 754,000-acre Sawtooth National Recreational Area, and was purposely enlarged to include an ASARCO mineral deposit. In 1975, the forming of the Hells Canyon Wilderness and Recreation Area comprised 350,000 acres. In 1977, 206,000 acres were placed in the Gospel Hump Wilderness. In 1978, the St. Joe River was designated a Wild and Scenic River. In 1979, we added to the list the River of No Return Wilderness, 125 miles and Wild and Scenic River and the Magruder Corridor consisting of 2,305,000 acres. We may put an end to RARE II and not have a RARE III, but the piecemeal process will continue. Judging from our past track record and the fact that current laws, rules, and regulations protect the public lands, we have to recommend—no more wilderness. We thank you for this opportunity to express our views on the subject.