Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Dr. McLaughlin. Thank you. I'm very happy to be here and happy to see that your interest in wilderness is still there today. In the issue update that I received from you, one of the things stated in there is that Idaho has more national forests than any other State and the largest wilderness system outside of Alaska. Of course, you're right. And these very facts suggest two important things that should not be forgotten. First, we are talking about National Forests, a resource that does not belong to just us Idahoans. But rather a resource that belongs to the entire American public and future generations. Second, the very fact that we have the largest wilderness system of any other State outside of Alaska is something that Idaho is proud of. It has helped maintain our State as a place to live where the quality of life is high, a place for tourists to visit, a place where they can still find that wildness in wilderness of America. In the last several weeks we have all seen articles in local newspapers stating that opinion polls of Idaho residents show that the majority do not favor more wilderness. Editorials have questioned the validity of polls. But no one has really brought up the fact that the wrong public is being asked the questions. If we go to a study done in the State of Colorado in 1980, we find that 84.1 percent of that State's population would be willing to pay for wilderness preservation. This one small example suggests that we cannot just look at this time from the perspective of Idaho. It is also here that I as a citizen expect you, Senator McClure, to draw on your ability to evaluate this issue from a national perspective. Consider those national issues. Consider how important this land, that we are so lucky to have in Idaho, is to the rest of this Nation. The second item which I wish to focus on here is Idaho's image of a wild place. In our tourism promotion for this State, every regional travel committee talked of Idaho's wilderness and wild lands as a key attraction for their area. As Idaho's $1.1 billion tourism continues—tourism industry continues to grow, it is extremely necessary that we maintain our image. Of course, not all tourists spend all their money and all their time in the wilderness. But, after all, should we complain about those who fish the waters that exist in our Nation—some of our Nation's wilderness? For these people pay money to the resort owners, the State receives economic benefits, fish and game receive license, fees, Idaho taxes are collected by the States, dollars are spent for gasoline food and souvenirs, let alone the direct benefits that our outfitters and guides receive from wilderness. Wilderness is a very important economic industry in the sense of both recreation and tourism. If we look into Idaho s future and we believe the U.S. Commerce Department projection about this segment of our economy growing, if we believe the projections made by futurists about tourism becoming the world’s largest industry by 517 the year 2000, if one realizes that wilderness is a scarce commodity throughout the world, then it seems to me that the question of wilderness in Idaho and how much we need should be reduced to a question of how much can we get without drastically affecting the other segments of the economy.