WILDERNESS: Beware that designation

A reality check is needed for the proposed Scotchman Wilderness. We are constantly told it must be protected, yet we are not told from what. The only real threat is the dramatic increase of hikers to the area, since the publicity began. In the past, you might see someone else on the trail, while now there have been as many as 45 people on the peak at one time. As a result, the peak has become a goat petting zoo and the trail to the namesake peak, closed.

Wilderness will bring more people, rules and control. Will we see continued long-term trail closures, perhaps limits to hikers, wilderness rangers telling us what we can and cannot do? Goat-people problems in high-use areas don’t tend to go away.

There are old clear-cuts and roads in this proposed area, even though the Wilderness Act calls for protecting areas “untrammeled by man.” Curiously, many nearby logging roads have been reclaimed, but those in the proposed area, have not. Reclamation by excavators is highly visible; perhaps the Forest Service has played politics here?

What if future generations want to utilize a natural resource in this area? A Wilderness designation makes that essentially impossible. We now know that clear-cuts can magically transform into Wilderness, so future logging is obviously not a threat.

The congressional delegation of Idaho is not in favor of this designation and for good reasons. Contact them, in particular Rep. Raul Labrador, and voice your disapproval of this proposal.

STAN MYERS

Hope