Whereas these wilderness areas would set aside forever, the marketable timber in the areas and much of this timber is ready for harvest and subject to loss by blowdown, insect infestation, and fire damage; and

Whereas no roads could be constructed in these areas, any salvageable timber would be lost and only a limited public use could be made of the area for recreational purposes; and

Whereas the economic stability of the forest products manufacturing industries are dependent on this natural resource; and

Whereas a considerable portion of the expenses of maintaining Whatcom County roads are provided from forest funds and the road department depends on this revenue to meet the ever-increasing maintenance costs and demands for improved roads and bridges; and

Whereas Whatcom County schools receive an almost equal amount of financial support from the national forests and depend on this revenue to meet the increasing school enrollment and school building needs; and

Whereas it is the opinion of the Whatcom County Board of County Commissioners and the Whatcom County Superintendent of Schools that the Forest Service has done a commendable job in administering the forest lands in this State, and that this management has included a sound conservation and reforestation policy for all timber, not allowing mature or damaged timber to be wasted: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the U.S. Congress be urged to consider the exclusion from all proposed wilderness areas, those areas which can best be used for multiple purposes of economic development and recreation under the administration of the U.S. Forest Service.

Senator JACKSON. We will hear from one more witness before adjournment for some lunch. Yvonne Prater, from Ellensburg.

STATEMENT OF MRS. YVONNE PRATER

Mrs. PRATER. Thank you. My name is Mrs. Yvonne Prater; I am a housewife from Ellensburg, Wash.

My husband and I are both native Washingtonians and we make our living from a family unit farm southwest of Ellensburg. Briefly, I want to tell you why I support the revised wilderness bill.

Just a few minutes ago one of the young fellows that testified said that only 1 percent of the people in this country used wilderness, but according to those that have testified this morning, I think about 50 percent of the people in this room have had wilderness experiences, and I don't think that we can go too much by percentages.

To begin with, I am very glad that your committee decided to hold a hearing in Seattle so that a sampling of opinion might be gleaned from one of the most scenic States in the Union, Hawaii and Alaska included. My husband and I have found out that being native Washingtonians has spoiled us for the beauties and wonders of Nature.. What an array there is of it in this State. We have the Pacific Ocean, Puget Sound, beautiful inland and mountain lakes, several forested mountain ranges including astounding rain forests and the parklike pine forests on the eastern slopes, and even desert country, all within our State's boundaries. Our wonderful natural resources have provided us with a thriving agricultural economy, an outstanding logging industry; mining is carried on; fishing, ample electricity for an expanding industrial growth, and our State is located on a very important trade route along the Pacific, and we enjoy a very flourishing tourist industry; and wilderness. And I hope we keep it.

The picture is pretty enough for a panoramic postcard. Yet there is something wrong with that picture. Life can't be that rosy with such an exploding population boom that we are experiencing. My

husband and I live on the eastern slope of the Cascades. The heaviest population centers are on the west side of the range and sometimes business carries us into the hub of human concentration. We are constantly amazed at the outward expansion of the Seattle-Tacoma suburbs. Every time we journey over Snoqualmie Pass, it seems as though the heavy traffic begins farther out from the city limits. On weekends, city dwellers flock to available recreation areas, and in good weather overflow easily to areas on the east side. Tents are thrown up side by side as the city family seeks relaxation from the everyday work and tensions.

I would like to cite one example. We have a recreation area above Cle Elum; local residents are complaining because Seattle residents are taking up the best campsites.

Tired of campground conditions that represent more crowded conditions than they left at home, increasing numbers of families are pursuing wilderness recreation away from the crowded highways and byways. They are finding splendid trail rewards for their efforts in the high back country of our mountain ranges where the wilderness exists. However, as my husband and I found out, protection of these remote wildernesses is something that mustn't be taken for granted. The Federal laws that protect our wilderness are filled with enough loopholes so that every once in a while a valuable chunk goes off down the drain in the form of a few dollars to line somebody's pockets and a short-term local boom. All it takes is the right amount of pressure applied in the right places and a stroke of a pen by some person in office unacquainted with the need for wilderness preservation, and it's done.

The wilderness bill is designed to make it a little bit tougher for a commercial interest to hack out pieces of wilderness from our designated areas. And so we hear the yowl of protest going up. I wonder what these same opponents to the wilderness bill would do when our land has been completely desecrated?

From our farm we can view beautiful mountains off in the distance. Near at hand, the valley all around is nearly all taken up by farming. Unless the wind is blowing, there is a thin haze over Ellensburg-population about 8,000-and a thick blanket of smoke that follows the Yakima River course when burning is going on at the dump. Sometimes the wind blows and carries it off. If you rise early in the morning, the air is calm and still. Later in the day, the air vibrates with the sound of tractors running. The sound of big trucks shifting gears on the highway 5 miles distant can be heard night or day. The trains traveling through leave their signature in sound in whistle and roar. Valuable farmland is being sold off in small lots for people who like country living; soon we are to have a relocated four-lane highway coming through on our side of the river. One farmer haunts the engineer's office in town every day hopeful that they will decide to miss his farm after all. Plans at present indicate his farm will be split in half along a limited access route. Another will lose all of his farm in a giant cloverleaf.

Across the valley, running over the Wenatchee Range, are vacant wide swaths cut through the timber for the transmission lines. In the upper country we have large lakes dammed for reclamation purposes. The fluctuating water level isn't a pretty sight as the reser

voirs are drained; acres of stumps are revealed at the upper ends of these lakes. Near Snoqualmie Pass, visible from the highway are extensive blocks of clear-cut timber. This is no substitute for wilder

It isn't meant to be. However, if we aren't more careful, the whole Cascade Range will go the same way. I suppose there are some people who wouldn't mind if that happened. It is too bad we have become so acclimatized to the ring of the cash register, for there are quite a few things money can't buy.

We can buy material things so easily these days, but what meaning does it have to us if we can't associate ourselves with the elemental things of life? We need more than our bread and butter. The satisfaction we find in a wilderness experience lies over and above our basic needs. It means giving something of ourselves in challenging physical effort in order to receive fleeting moments of beauty and vistas of deeper meaning in life that cannot be found in crowded, hurried, everyday existence.

The future of our remaining wilderness areas lies imperiled as long as we delay action on the proposed wilderness bill. There is so little time left to act that my plea is that our politicians will realize the predicament we are faced with and insure passage of the wilderness bill.

Senator JACKSON. Thank you, Mrs. Prater, for your fine statement. We will call as our first witness after lunch-and we will resume at a quarter of 2; that is an hour and 10 minutes, and we are going to run until a quarter of 6, so if you think this is a congressional recess or vacation-the first witness after lunch will be Rev. Riley Johnson, and, I have listed here, Mr. Berentson from Anacortes, Grace Kent, Mr. Venable, Hopkins, Dr. Johnson, Mr. Russell, and Mr. Singleton. Now, anyone else put your name up here, but I don't know, we will do our best to accommodate you.

Mr. STONG. Senator Jackson, I would like to include in the record a resolution of the Legislature of the State of Idaho.

Senator JACKSON. It may go in.

(The document referred to follows:)

Hon. JAMES MURRAY,

Chairman, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs,

Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.

DEAR SENATOR MURRAY: It is my understanding that your committee is about to hold hearings on a bill very similar to H.R. 1929, which is designed to establish a national wilderness preservation system.

I have the honor to transmit herewith a certified copy of house joint memorial 6 passed by the two houses of the Idaho Legislature, with the request that this memorial be made a part of any hearing record on any bill or bills which your committee may consider that are similar to H.R. 1929.

With kind regard, I am,

Sincerely yours,

ROBERT E. SMYLIE, Governor.

IDAHO HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 6

To the honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled:

We, your memorialists, the Legislature of the State of Idaho, respectfully represent that—

Whereas there is now pending in the Congress of the United States a bill known as H.R. 1929 to establish a national wilderness preservation system; and Whereas the economy of the State of Idaho is based upon its agriculture, min

ing, lumber, sheep, and cattle industries, and the use of its waters for irrigation and hydroelectric power; and

Whereas the enactment of this bill will deny to the natural resources industries of the State of Idaho the right to wisely develop the natural resources contained in the great primitive areas of this State, and further deny access to these primitive areas to millions of American citizens, all to the detriment of the said industries and to the people of the State of Idaho; and

Whereas one of the great potential industries of the State of Idaho is its tourist trade and wildlife attractions: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives, State of Idaho (the Senate concurring), That we most respectfully oppose the enactment of said H.R. 1929, for the reasons that the enactment of said bill prevents the normal development and utilization of the natural resources contained in such a wilderness system, that the agricultural, mining, timber, sheep, and cattle industries, and the wildlife and tourist industries will be irreparably damaged, and that the present very satisfactory and normal administration of our natural resources by the present land management agencies will be superseded and replaced by another unnecessary Federal bureau; be it further

Resolved, That the secretary of state of the State of Idaho be authorized and he is hereby directed to immediately forward certified copies of this memorial to the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America, the Secretary of the Interior, and to the Senators and Representatives in Congress from this State.

(Thereupon the hearing recessed at 12:35 p.m., reconvening at 1:45 p.m.)

Senator JACKSON. The committee will resume its sitting. Our first witness, Rev. Riley Johnson, from Chelan. Reverend Johnson, if you will go right ahead.

STATEMENT OF REV. R. RILEY JOHNSON, REPRESENTING THE LAKE CHELAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Reverend JOHNSON. I am the Reverend Father Robert Riley Johnson, a resident of Chelan, Wash., vicar of Saint Andrew's Protestant Episcopal Church, Chelan, Wash., chairman of the Lake Chelan Chamber of Commerce committee in opposition to Senate bill 1123, president of the National Forest Multiple Use Association, a Washington State citizen association incorporated in the State of Washington as a nonprofit corporation, with a membership of private citizens, some chambers of commerce, farm, lumber, and business interests as members.

I am also here as a representative of the department of Christian social relations, the Protestant episcopal missionary jurisdiction of Spokane, the Protestant Episcopal Church in eastern Washington and northern Idaho, and as representative of the Right Reverend Dr. Russell Sturgis Hubbard, missionary bishop of Spokane, speaking in opposition to S. 1123.

Basically, I shall not bore you with the testimony that can be included into the record, with your permission, Senator.

Senator JACKSON. Without objection, the statement will be included in the record at this point in its entirety.

(The statement referred to follows:)

STATEMENT OF REV. RILEY JOHNSON

I am the Reverend Father Robert Riley Johnson, a resident of Chelan, Wash., vicar of Saint Andrew's Protestant Episcopal Church, Chelan, Wash., chairman of the Lake Chelan Chamber of Commerce committee in opposition to Senate bill 1123, president of the National Forest Multiple Use Association, a Wash

ington State citizens' association, incorporated in the State of Washington as a nonprofit corporation, with a membership of private citizens, some chambers of commerce, farm, lumber, and business interests as members. I am also here as the representative of the department of Christian social relations, of which I am chairman, of the Protestant Episcopal Missionary Jurisdiction of Spokane, the Protestant Episcopal Church in eastern Washington and northern Idaho, and as representative of the Right Reverend Dr. Russell Sturgis Hubbard, missionary bishop of Spokane, speaking in opposition to S. 1123.

My written comments are simply as follows on Senate bill 1123, as representing the above named organizations and individuals. Senate bill 1123 is simply a rehashing of the major portions of last year's wilderness bill 4028. The changes are of such a nature and of such minor impact as to have no effect on our absolute and complete opposition to Senate bill 1123.

By my own observation and feeling Senate bill 1123 is unwise and unsound land management that would prove to be of considerable damage to the economy and the economic welfare of eastern Washington and northern Idaho.

There is effective and judicious administration of public lands by existing Federal agencies, including the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and National Park Service, and wilderness and wild areas now established under the Forest Service regulations clearly state an intent to preserve such areas in their primitive state. We feel that this bill simply is a mark of distrust in the present administration of these areas and a slap in the face of the present program of conservation and development of the multiple use program of the -existing agencies and programs.

This bill would permit the Chief of the Forest Service and the Secretary of Agriculture to sit in Washington, D.C., and at will and whim raise or lower the economy of north-central Washington, eastern Washington, and northern Idaho, in whatever manner they might please, through their discretionary powers regarding our natural resources that are on Federal lands, one of the basic elements in our economic life and welfare.

It would appear to us that the proposed wilderness bill is contrary to the best interests of national defense and the economic welfare of our areas. Our economic health is dependent on the multiple use concept of development of Federal lands in Washington and Idaho. We do not feel and know that such wilderness legislation as S. 1123 is not the fullest utilization of our natural resources and is thus injurious to the economic welfare of our areas.

There has been established a National Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission which has been directed to report no later than the year 1961 its recommendations, if any, for additional recreational areas, including wilderness. Thus it would seem premature to now introduce S. 1123 in the light of the pending report by the above named Commission.

Let me say in conclusion we of the north-central Washington chambers of commerce, the National Forest Multiple Use Association, the Missionary District of Spokane, the Right Reverend R. S. Hubbard, and myself, as are a majority of the residents of eastern Washington, are in absolute and complete opposition to this bill. Thank you.

Reverend JOHNSON. I would make only a few comments as the multiplicity of events has been carried on here and ask with your permission as we listened to this wilderness legislation pros and cons that I am struck as we have, through the last several years, gone through a maze of this kind of legislation and small communities such as Chelan have found themselves in the position of being spoken of as lumber towns and mining towns that could be deserted and their particular existence of no great importance. But I might assure both the distinguished Senators from Washington and from Utah that the people of Chelan do not feel that way about it, that we think we are important and that we would like to protect our payrolls and our livelihoods. We would not care to trample down the things spiritual, but we do like to have a payroll; we like to live.

I think that can sum up basically our philosophy from a chamber of commerce point of view.