Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Mr. Wilson. Senator McClure, members of the committee, my name is Tom Wilson. I reside at Sandpoint, and we appreciate—my wife and me appreciate the opportunity to offer our views on the wilderness situation in Idaho. We wish to go on record favoring proposal 4 in your issue update providing for additional acreages to be added to the Idaho Wilderness system. We are graduates of the University of Idaho, class of 1937, my wife in journalism and I in forestry and range. In the past 50 years we have lived and worked in Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Oregon. The last 24 years we have lived in Sandpoint. We have hiked and fished and hunted in the Selkirk Crest areas, Coeur d’Alene, St. Joe, Selway, and Clearwater areas. We feel you are doing an invaluable service for this and future generations in providing legislation to protect and preserve portions of these areas. Setting aside portions of these areas will have minimal impact on local employment or the national economy. True, it could reduce the amount of timber available for future cutting, but I feel we can and must do a better job of managing our present cutting areas. The past few years have shown that employment opportunities are affected more by timber demand than by timber supply. Many present contracts have not been completed and many companies have petitioned the Forest Service for extensions and special considerations in completing existing contracts. From personal experience during the past 24 years I have seen pristine, roadless drainages in the upper north fork of the Coeur d’Alene River changed into roaded, clear cut units, adversely affecting elk populations, watershed runoff, and scenic values. It is imperative that we have an occasional virgin stand and undisturbed drainage to study, evaluate, and enjoy. For the above reasons I hope special consideration will be given to Long Canyon as a gateway into the Selkirk Crest area. Long Canyon is one of the few unroaded drainages in Boundary County. Economically it would be marginal at best to log the 200 million board feet. Other areas which we would like to see preserved are: Salmo-Priest: At least 10,000 acres—important habitat for the woodland caribou. Selkirk Crest: At least 125,000 acres—very little commercial timber, exceptional scenic and recreational values. Scotchman Peak: At least 20,000 acres—marginal timber values, excellent scenic, recreation and wildlife habitat values. We sincerely hope most of these areas can be saved from road building and logging by designation into the Wilderness system. We know most of the roadless areas in the national forests eventually will be roaded and logged. We need to reserve portions of these areas and we are glad to see you addressing the problems with your legislation. Thank you very much, Senator McClure.