Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

POTLATCH CORP. Mr. Maddock. I'm Todd Maddock, regional director of public affairs for Potlatch Corp. I reside here in Lewis ton. I am here today in behalf of the Idaho Forest Industry Council. The council represents 24 member companies making up more than 90 percent of Idaho's forest products industry. We appreciate 411 the opportunity to appear before you and express our views on possible legislation to both designate wilderness and release nonwilderness areas for multiple use. You will find attached to my statement the Idaho Forest Industry Council proposal which calls for the addition of 591,628 acres to the Idaho wilderness system. In that proposed legislation, we offer language that will legally release for multiple use the remainder of the roadless areas. This release language does not preclude other areas from being considered for wilderness in the future. But it insures that other nonwilderness uses can proceed without fear of appeal. It must be remembered that about half of the national forests of Idaho are roadless—over 10 million acres in total. Of that 10 million acres, 3.8 million acres have already been congressionally designated as wilderness giving Idaho the largest wilderness system of any State, except for Alaska. Thus, 38 percent of the roadless areas have already been permanently set aside. The forest products industry recommends completion of Idaho's wilderness system by selecting from the remaining 6Vz million acres those areas having the greatest wilderness value while minimizing the adverse impact on the State's economy. Adding almost 600,000 acres to the State's wilderness system will mean that nearly half of the national forest's roadless areas of the State will become permanent wilderness leaving the remainder to provide continued employment for Idahoans. The roadless areas of the national forests represent a critical portion of the State's productive timberland. The annual timber growth of the roadless areas equals one-fourth of the State's average annual timber harvest. Unless the U.S. Forest Service is allowed to proceed with planned timber sales within the roadless areas, the present capacity of the forest products industry in Idaho cannot be maintained. I have attached for the record a recent study prepared by the University of Montana in cooperation with the Intermountain Forest & Range Experiment Station. That study indicates that our industry is second in economic importance only to agriculture accounting for a full 25 percent of the nonagricultural economic base of the State. Our industry is also based upon a renewable resource. Thus, given the opportunity, it can remain a mainstay in Idaho's economy as long as we will allow it to be. Thank you.