Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

REPRESENTATIVES, PORTHILL, IDAHO Mr. Tucker. I am a representative of the First District, Senator. I want to thank you all for giving us all the opportunity to address this most important issue. I speak here today as the representative of the First District, and it is with great hesitation that I speak for the residents of Bonner and Boundary County who will live the rest of their lives under the influence of the decision you will make, based on the testimony given here today. It is my personal conviction that we, as a region, must begin a conservative era in discharging our natural resource management. North Idaho deserves a share of that conservation; call it an investment in the future; Idaho's future. Therefore, I request wilderness status for the area in Boundary County known as Long Canyon. I realize the level of emotionalism, confusion, and the great length of time in the resolution surrounding the issue. In order to balance the above, I suggest more communication. As are most controversies, this issue was born out of poor communication and diverse cultural philosophies. Poor communication because a group of policy makers in Washington D.C., developed criterion under which we were to classify and use our unique geography. Poor communication because the words used by those policy makers are shadowed in misinterpretation and misunderstanding. Diverse cultural philosophies because each side has chosen their boundaries based on a set of values that cannot be crossed by the 6 other side, and an inability to accept an admixture of each participating philosophy. There is another facet to this situation we've been dealt, and that is the question of local control. It is questionable whether the authors of the RARE II proposal