Idaho Wilderness Hearings

Statement:

Mr. Smith. Yes, I'm Emmett Smith. My wife and I own Dixie Outfitters in Dixie, Idaho. And I'm sure you're well aware of that area and the Jersey Jack Road and adjacent Rhett Creek logging proposal. But being as how I'm the one that makes a living out of that area—exact area, I wanted to come down here today and tell you what I thought. It was my understanding when that was excluded in the wilderness proposal in RARE I and RARE II that that would be then changed to the highest and best use by the Forest Service. And in my opinion, the logging of that area is not the highest and best use. There's about a half a dozen outfitters and business people that use that area. We operate profitable businesses. We're not subsidized by anything of the Government and nor do we ever want to be. The thing, I guess, that gets to me the most is the fact that $4V2 million is going to be spent on that project at a loss to put me out of business. And that's myself and another six, eight people formed 616 the Salmon River Breaks to try to bring about the fact that there is a higher and better use for that area. We're at a 6,000 foot elevation. We're lodgepole pine. That timber grows on a 100-year cycle. And once this is cut into, it can never be returned to our type of business. I guess that is about the main extent of it there. Thank you.