Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Mrs. Semmler. Senator McClure, my family and I live in Idaho by choice. We have made our home here for the past 8 years. My husband is head partsman for PFI, Headquarters Idaho. He has served 6 years on the school board of Joint School District No. 171, and has had to struggle with decisions to cut back in all areas of the district because of the lack of forest funds available during the recent downturn in our economy. These forest funds are vital to the operation of the schools in our district. They are set aside, apart from the general fund, for use in the following areas: REMODELING Last year extensive remodeling was needed at the Weippe School, which has a very old building. Remodeling was also done at the Timberline High School, and new roofs were put on Orofino High School, Orofino Junior High, Weippe, and Timberline. All these projects were for energy conservation. TRANSPORTATION Forest funds are used to purchase badly needed buses to transport hundreds of kids who reside in the rural areas of the district. The minimum needed was $150,000 for the buses. With the loss of forest revenues, the district was unable to purchase the required number of new buses. These funds are also used to replace wornout furnaces and heating units and for purchases of land sites for new schools, shops, and equipment warehouses. The amount of Forest Fund money the district receives each year depends entirely on the sale of timber in the area. Our family's livelihood has been seriously threatened the past few years during the economic downturn and uncertainty with resulting extensive layoffs in our area. This situation has caused our schools, businesses, churches, and individual families to feel the pinch. I am a member of Faith Lutheran Church Council at Pierce. We have set up budgets according to the past year's growth trends, only to see our income shrink drastically as our members have been laid off for many months at a time. Many of our members tithe 10 or more percent of their income, yet a tithe of an unem641 ployment check is a lot less than a tithe from a regular wage check. In order to be sure our pastor was paid his salary, we had to resort to applying for assistance to the North Pacific District of the American Lutheran Church. Yet, our church has a history of being a giving church. So the very fabric of our lives has been torn by the slump in forest industry income. And now, as the economy looks to be on the upswing, the timber industry is moving again, but there's still an ominous black cloud over the horizon. The decision in a California court that RARE II evaluation was not thorough enough. RARE studies have been going on for 19 years! This means that available timber to keep the industry moving and healthy is being locked up in further delay. Some think that the 3.9 million acres that have already been set aside for perpetual wilderness is not vast enough. I submit that it would take you and me a lifetime to explore just the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness alone. According to Governor Evans, Idaho has only two main industries: Agriculture and timber. The mining has already been closed down, affecting thousands of jobs. These jobs represent people like you and me—with homes, families, and businesses. Those who insist we need more wilderness in Idaho want to see a mass exodus of taxpayers like me and my family from the State. They want ghost towns where there were once thriving communities. The Nation cannot afford for Idaho to become an uninhabited wilderness playground for the liberal elite from other States. Eighty-two percent of the Clearwater National Forest is commercial forest land that should be managed in a productive manner. We need to let the U.S. Forest Service do their jobs. They are professionals who are mindful of their Stewardship responsibilities. If the access to merchantable timber is blocked by further timeand money-consuming studies, deciding nothing, the industry will be forced to leave Idaho, taking 22 percent of our basic industry wages with them. We must release the roadless areas that are not designated wilderness for multiple use management so that we can continue to work for a decent wage, pay our taxes, and live in beautiful Idaho, our home.