Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Mr. LeGate. Thank you, Senator. There's a lot we could talk about. And I'd like to focus on one particular area, the Great Burn wilderness proposal which straddles the border between Idaho and Montana. In particular, about 1 month ago it was my pleasure to visit an area in the upper headwaters of Kelly and Cayuse Creek, a little lake basin known as Goat Lake. Its a tremendously open country. The fires have burned through. You can actually see the border where the fires in the earlier part of the century burned some of the area. And lower down on the Silver Creek, the rest of the area was left unscathed. And you can see in that area evidence of the low timber value in that drainage. The trees—such regeneration as there is is spotty and growth is obviously poor. One thing that really amazed me about this area—and I have not before ever had an experience like it—was the contacts I've had with wildlife. We were in there—a friend of mine and I—for 1 night. That's all we had time for. But it was an easy hike into the area. It was a nice trail that goes in about 3 miles. And immediately, coming into the area, it was quite obvious there was good game habitat. We saw mule deer does as we came into the basin. And after dinner in the waning hours of light, we took a walk up into the divide between Goat Lake and Williams Creek area. And as soon as we reached the top—reached the divide and looked down into the basin of Williams Creek, we saw about 11 elk. It was amazing. They were six—no. Yeah, six—six cow elk and five calves. It was delightful. They were bedding down for the night. A little wary about us being there. And that wasn't the end of it. In just a few minutes before the Sun went down, we got back to camp and found some goat hair on top of the ridge. There are certainly goats in the area. We found a couple of white-crowned sparrow nests there in the heather of the area. It supports a lot of heather. And it's a great habitat for that little bird. And coming back into camp as we looked down from the top, down into the camp, I saw a doe—a mule deer doe nosing around my kit—my cook kit. And she was in camp with us all night long. All this is to say that this area is obviously a wonderful and rich and diverse area for wildlife habitat. And I believe wilderness protection is an appropriate—is the best protection of the area. And I would like to see that area protected and the adjoining areas of the Great Burn. I think it certainly deserves it. And this may sound— for some reason and not a very good reason this sounds outrageous. But I would like to give you the opportunity to see that area. And I would be delighted—in fact, I'm sure there are a number of people in this room who would be happy to show you that area. It wouldn't be that hard to see. And I d like to give you a chance to see that just as an example as a very beautiful part of the State of Idaho. Thank you.