Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

PRODUCTS, INC. Mr. Coats. Senator McClure, Senator Symms, I am Robert Coats, company forester for Evergreen Forest Products located at Tamarack, Idaho. We use predominately Federal timber in the manufacture of dimension lumber and other wood products; such as, railroad ties. More than 10 percent of the raw material for our sawmill comes from the Nez Perce National Forest. For that reason, my statement will be confined to the land and resource situation on the Nez Perce and more particularly the Slate Creek Ranger District. Evergreen recently completed a new small log mill and a cogeneration facility. We constructed these facilities because of our opti729 mism about the future. This optimism, fortunately, has been confirmed by recent reports on the strength of the economic recovery, increases in residential construction, and a large unsatisfied demand for housing. We are also encouraged by your interest in sponsoring legislation to be to close the battle over which national forest roadless areas in Idaho will be added to the National Wilderness System. Timber harvesting on the Nez Perce, particularly the Slate Creek Ranger District, has stayed around 21.1 million feet for the past several years. Minor fluctuations have occurred because of demand, shifting of volume from the district to the east of the Slate Creek District. But it has stayed relatively firm. If the purposed where-to areas on the Slate Creek Ranger District were designated as wilderness, the annual allowable cut will drop from 21.1 million feet to approximately 10 million feet. A sizable decrease. We would, therefore, urge you to—those RARE II areas be deleted and put back into the timber base. We know that there are going to be more areas added to the wilderness but certainly not those on the Slate Creek Ranger District. The battle over which national forest roadless systems in Idaho should become part of the National Wilderness System has gone on long enough. We hope that the legislation which you are preparing will bring an end to the fight and will lead to a stable forest land base for the forest products company operating in central Idaho. Thank you.