Idaho: Debate Rages Over Roadless Lands
12/14/99
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Title: Debate Rages Over Roadless Lands; Miners, hikers show
divided needs in Idaho
Source: The Idaho Statesman
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 14, 1999
Byline: Rocky Barker
Speakers howled Monday in celebration and protest of President
Clinton's plan to protect roadless national forest lands.
More than 500 hikers, hunters, loggers, motorcyclists and other
forest users packed a hearing at the Owyhee Plaza conducted by the
U.S. Forest Service. The debate returned to familiar ground: What to
do with the 8 million to 9 million acres of wild country in Idaho
stilll pristine but not designate wilderness by Congress.
As in many previous hearings, Monday's testimony laid bare the line
between the competing values of Idahoans who all express strong ties
to the land.
"I walk in the tracks of grizzly bear. It chills my spine," said
Martin Stephan, of Boise, who howled like a wolf in support of the
proposal.
Joe Aldape, an off-highway vehicle rider, said roadless lands are
where he and his friends prefer to recreate.
"We don't live in Idaho because we can make a lot of money," he said.
"We're here because we love our backcountry."
Since the 1970s, Idahoans have fought over whether to keep national
forest lands open for logging, mining and motorized recreation or to
turn them into wilderness, where access is limited to non-motorized
means and logging is banned.
Clinton initiated this latest process in October with the intent to
complete a protection program on up to 50 million acres of roadless
lands by the end of 2000. Hailed by environmentalists, the plan has
been assailed by Western Republican lawmakers as an undemocratic
attack on their region, where most U.S. roadless lands remain.
"We've had it with him and his whole corrupt organization," Lewis
Work of Boise said of Clinton. "We're not going to take it anymore."
The Forest Service is developing alternatives ranging from halting
all roads, logging and motorized use to keeping some areas open for
all users. The agency will have a detailed plan in the spring for
more comment.
"This document is not ready unless the final result is already
determined," said Sen. Judi Danielson, R-Council.
Hearings across rural Idaho have been dominated by motorized
recreationists, loggers, miners and ranchers. But, as expected, a
large contingent of environmentalists turned out for the Boise
hearing.
Speakers from both sides filed past each other as they took the
podium, with little dialogue between them. That prompted Ann Finley
of Boise, a hiker and hunter, to urge both sides to sit down and seek
a resolution to the roadless issue together.
"Idaho is growing fast," she warned. "It's time we get together and
talk about ways to make it work."
Comments are due by Dec. 20 at: USDA FS, Attn: Roadless, P.O. Box
221090, Salt Lake City, UT 84122 or e-mail:
roadless/wo_caet-slc@fs.fed.us
Contact Rocky at 377-6484 or rbarker@boise.gannett.com