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A recent letter supporting the proposed Scotchman Peaks Wilderness argued for the designation because, according to the writer, so little land remains untouched by man in Idaho. This is a common argument for those who support the wilderness, yet couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Let’s look at some facts. Total Idaho acreage is 53.5 million acres. National Forests in Idaho total 20.3 million acres. The BLM manages another 11.3 million acres. Within all that, there are 9.2 million acres of Inventoried Roadless areas and 4.8 million acres in designated Wilderness and other protected classifications. Put in other words, over 44% of public lands in Idaho and 26% of the entire state are protected. Considering only the USFS managed lands (the bulk of the forests), over 60% of the land is protected and undisturbed.

The notion that we have little remaining undisturbed land is just plain ridiculous and, when considering the wood and minerals that we once produced from public lands in Idaho and the abundance of protected lands that we still have, what we have now is a testament to the once excellent balance between industry and setting land aside, that we had in this state. Wise-use conservation, rather than preservation, created what we have now. For the sake of future generations in Idaho, we don’t need more wilderness. What we really need, for a healthy future economy, healthy forests and wildlife, is what the USFS once did – real management of public lands.

STAN MYERS

Hope