Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Ms. Bull. I'm from Moscow, Idaho. And I'm 61 years old. And I want to tell you that because I still get into the back country. And I'm strongly in favor of dispersed wilderness areas. And I m not going to backpack in for 8 days. And I want to tell you about Elk Summit where I went last weekend. And I think that should be included along with the 10 core areas. I went up the Walton Lakes Road past Sneakfoot Meadows and Marion Meadows. And I met elk on the trail. And we slept—there was just two of us. We slept on a beach by a mountain lake and moose was splashing in the water. We met no one on the whole trail. We were there 2 days, in and out. We saw high mountain meadows with gentian, which is very rare. I've never seen any, anywhere except in the Elk Summit area. Bear grass for 9 miles. Beautiful trail. The timber was, I thought, mostly small and the woods were open. It was a beautiful area. And I agree with the people who say that that's what makes Idaho special. 724 I've lived in a lot of places including Colorado. And I see those places filling up and losing what makes them unique. And every time I come back to Idaho, I think this is one of the last places where you can have wilderness and true solitude in your backyard. And I urge you to please keep it that way. And I want to add, too, that the Multiple Use/Sustained Yield Act considers recreational use equal to production of timber, watershed protection, and those other uses. And it clearly states that production of timber for economic reasons is not to have superior value over the other uses. Thank you. Thank you for coming.