Page 73 56 Harroun, Thomas, chairman, Vermont State Council, Sierra Club, 20 Leahy, Hon. Patrick J., a U.S. Senator from the State of Vermont. Lines, Stephen, president, Wyndshire Corp., Cambridge, Mass- Masterson, Harold, chairman, Lincoln Selectmen, Bristol, Vt---- Statement of-Continued Page Walker, Edward B., director of forests, State of Vermont, Agency of 53 Weber, Seward, executive director, Vermont Natural Resources 12 Weston, Kenneth, and Thomas Yeager, representing The A. Johnson 36 3 Miscellaneous documents S. 2308____ Management Plan, Bristol Cliffs Backwoods Area, Green Mountain Report on the Proposed Bristol Cliffs Wilderness, Green Mountain USDA Forest Service Environmental Statement-Bristol Cliffs Wil- Summary of Landowners Information Meeting, Bristol Cliffs and Lye Brook Wildernesses, Bristol and Manchester Center, Vt., May 2 and 3, 1975--- 107 Letter from L. Kent Mays, Jr., forest supervisor, to Senator Leahy, dated Aug. 8, 1975‒‒‒‒‒ Series of letters between Senator Leahy and John R. McGuire, Chief, 108 109-112 Letter from L. Kent Mays, Jr., forest supervisor, to Senator Leahy, Land within the Bristol Cliffs Area-tax assessment for 1975- 113 113 121 Letter from Dr. Peter B. Smith, to Representative Jeffords concerning 132 Letter from Penny M. Dumas, dated Oct. 27, 1975, to Senator 132 Letter from Harlan Sandberg, dated Oct. 19, 1975, to Senator 133 Letter from Alan Kritz to Senator Talmadge.. 133 Letter from Andy Lynn, dated Oct. 17, 1975, to Senator Talmadge. 133 Letter from Lawrence J. Taylor, dated Oct. 14, 1975. 133 Letter from Vivien Li, dated Oct. 28, 1975, to Senator Talmadge_. 133 Letter from Ethel M. Thorniley, dated Oct. 23, 1975, to Senator 134 Letter from Mrs. Lewis Hill, dated Oct. 25, 1975, to Senator 134 Letter from Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Morley, dated Oct. 20, 1975, to 134 Letter from John E. Shepherd, Jr., dated Oct. 15, 1975, to Senator 135 Letter from Bruce Berger, dated Oct. 16, 1975, to Senator Talmadge__ Letter from Scott Bailey, dated Oct. 15, 1975, to Senator Talmadge___ 135 135 136 136 Letter from Patricia I. Felton, dated Oct. 14, 1975, to Senator 136 BRISTOL CLIFFS WILDERNESS SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1975 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT, SOIL CONSERVATION, AND FORESTRY, OF THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY, Bristol, Vt. The subcommittee met pursuant to notice in the Holly Hall auditorium, at 7:30 p.m., Hon. Patrick J. Leahy, presiding. Present: Senator Leahy. STATEMENT OF HON. PATRICK J. LEAHY, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF VERMONT Senator LEAHIY. This hearing of the Subcommittee on Environment, Soil Conservation, and Forestry of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry is to receive testimony on S. 2308. Senator Robert Stafford and I introduced this legislation September 9 to revise the boundaries of the Bristol Cliffs Wilderness Area. This legislation is our response to the meeting held last month, in this hall, between the Bristol Cliffs Landowners' Association and the Vermont congressional delegation. A single thought dominated that meeting. The 1974 Eastern Wilderness Act became law in early January. The property owners first learned of this statute 2 months later in March by certified letter. It was then that they were told that their lands were wilderness lands and that their private use of their lands was restricted. The constant theme of the August meeting was that the landowners had no opportunity to voice their views on this Federal legislation which now touched their lives so directly. This should not be. A citizen must have the opportunity to have a say on a matter which affects him. That is the tradition of our Vermont town meetings. It is the basis of our democracy. This cannot and will not happen again. Legislation concerning eastern wilderness areas falls within the jurisdiction of the Senate Agriculture Committee and within the jurisdiction of this subcommittee. I am a member of both the committee and the subcommittee. I shall make sure, by future legislation, that proper Forest Service notification is required for all owners of private lands within any projected wilderness area while the legislation is pending before the Congress. In addition, there shall be an opportunity for local hearings so that the Congress may have the views of those whose daily lives must fit within the requirements of the wilderness statute. The Bristol Cliffs property owners, at that meeting and in their letters, say clearly and emphatically that they are not opposed to wilderness nor to the concept it embodies. Senator Stafford and I support the wilderness system and the concept it embodies. I could support the 1974 Eastern Wilderness Act if I were assured that proper notification were provided the affected property owners and that these individuals had been given an opportunity to testify before the 93d Congress. Opposition to the inclusion of the private lands within this wilderness area cannot be characterized as opposition to the goals of any environmentalist who wants to preserve our fast-dwindling undeveloped areas. These natural areas are a necessary part of modern society. The opposition comes strictly by the way it was done by the Congress. The property owners say they have been treated unjustly. They have asked that the boundaries of the wilderness be returned to the core holding of the Green Mountain National Forest, and we have a map covering the area. This represents the area the agency originally set aside as a backwoods area. This is one area specifically discussed and reviewed at a public session held by the Forest Service in December 1971. It is the only session of record in which the residents of Bristol and Addison County had any say in Forest Service policy for their immediate area. Although S. 2308 returns the wilderness boundaries to the backwoods area, it retains the stricter management policies of the Eastern Wilderness Act. The Bristol Cliffs area is not removed from the wilderness system. The land acquisition policy of the Forest Service, constrained by limited funds, places the purchase of wilderness area lands as a priority. Other purchases fall within the Forest Service's general acquisition program. I considered a possible amendment to S. 2308 to accommodate those of you who want to sell your private lands to the Forest Service for the Bristol Cliffs Wilderness area, but not under the present conditions. The provision would have directed the Forest Service to continue its policy of priority purchase of lands-on a willing-buyer/willingseller basis-within the Bristol Cliffs area. The provision, however, would be a major substantive change to the Wilderness Act and just does not belong with this legislation which is drawn specifically to meet a limited local problem. This should be considered by the Congress when it reviews future Eastern wilderness legislation. I intend to see that this is done. There is one last matter which must be addressed. There are those who say that S. 2308 is setting a wrong precedent for our wilderness system by removing lands already included from an established wilderness area. There shall be a precedent set. It shall be a precedent that the Congress has the will and can respond immediately to correct a wrong it has done. This is the purpose of S. 2308. This is why we are here at Holly Hall in Bristol tonight. [S. 2308 follows:] [S. 2308, 94th Cong., 1st sess.] A BILL To provide for the modification of the boundaries of the Bristol Cliffs Wilderness Area Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That for the purpose of modifying the boundaries of the Bristol Cliffs Wilderness, section 3 of the Act of January 3, 1975 (88 Stat. 2097), is amended as follows: (a) Paragraph (10) of section 3(a) is deleted and paragraphs (11) through (15) of section 3(a) are respectively renumered as paragraphs (10) through (14). (b) Section 3(b) is revised to read: "(b) In furtherance of the purposes of the Wilderness Act, the following lands are hereby designated as wilderness and, therefore, as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System: "(1) certain lands in the Chattahoochee and Cherokee National Forests, Georgia and Tennessee, which comprise about thirty-four thousand five hundred acres, are generally depicted on a map dated April 1973, entitled Cohutta Wilderness Area-Proposed', and shall be known as the Cohutta Wilderness. "(2) certain lands in the Green Mountain National Forest, Vermont, which comprise about three thousand seven hundred and seventy-five acres, [and] are generally depicted on a map dated [July] October 1975, entitled 'Bristol Cliffs Wilderness Area-Revised', and shall be known as the Bristol Cliffs Wilderness.". SEC. 2. Upon enactment of this Act, the provisions of the Act of January 3, 1975 (88 Stat. 2096) and the Wilderness Act (78 Stat. 890) shall not be applicable to any lands previously designated as the Bristol Cliffs Wilderness that are not contained within the boundaries of the Bristol Cliffs Wilderness as depicted on the map described in section 1(b) of this Act. Senator LEAHY. This evening hearing is an unusual hearing scheduled to provide the opportunity for the working property owner to testify. It has been scheduled as a result of the interest and cooperation of Senator Herman Talmadge, the Senate Agriculture Committee chairman, who is following this legislation and is supporting the Vermont Congressional Delegation in this matter. And I might mention a couple of things. Senator Talmadge commented this is an unprecedented hearing, the fact that this is the first time in anybody's knowledge that the Senate Agriculture Committee had a hearing on a Sunday evening anywhere either in Washington or outside, so I mention that as our concern for you. I wanted to mention that also some of my colleagues in the Senate told me it's a precedent they don't want me to spread. It is also one that if we |