In requesting a recommendation for wilderness designation for the Lincoln Back Country and Scapegoat Mountain area, the undersigned further urge that the area be allowed to remain in an undeveloped state until the review procedures spelled out in the Wilderness Act can be implemented. Since the first procedure (P.L. 88-577) to bring additional units into the National Wilderness Preservation System is to give public notice of such intent, we, the undersigned, submit this as public notice of our intent and urge the United States Forest Service to publicly state its intent following proper administrative studies.

Hon. QUENTIN BURDICK,

MONTANA WILDLIFE FEDERATION,

Livingston, Mont., June 4, 1968.

Chairman, Senate Interior Subcommittee on Public Lands, City Council Chamber,

Civic Center, Great Falls, Mont.

DEAR SENATOR BURDICK: The Southwestern District of the Montana Wildlife Federation is comprised of conservation groups affiliated with the Montana Wildlife Federation and located in the nine southwestern counties of the State. The District has been requested by its member clubs to formally go on record favoring the "Wilderness Classification" proposed for the Lincoln-Scapegoat area of the Lewis & Clark and the Lolo National Forests.

The Southwestern District believes that the unique values inherent in the Lincoln-Scapegoat area offer infinitely more to Montana and to the Nation than proposed commercial development whose value would not likely extend beyond material measurements.

It is only natural to like the things that make life easy but fortunately many Americans feel there is a much greater need for the things that make life worthwhile. The Lincoln-Scapegoat country abounds in qualities that, year after year, have made life more worthwhile for many, many people.

The opportunity to present the opinions of Southwestern and to have this letter become a part of the printed record of the hearing is appreciated.

Sincerely,

JOE M. HALTERMAN, President.

MONTANA WILDERNESS ASSOCIATION,

Hamilton, Mont.

MONTANA WILDLIFE FEDERATION,
Hamilton, Mont., June 6, 1968.

GENTLEMEN: District I of the Montana Wildlife Federation has supported the Lincoln Backcountry's attempt to create a wilderness area.

We would like to reiterate our support for this and urge all interested parties to do everything possible to see that the Lincoln back country becomes a wilder

ness area.

Sincerely yours,

E. K. STEWART. Secretary, District I.

MONTANA WILDLIFE FEDERATION,
Sanders, Mont., June 3, 1968.

LIVINGSTON RODGERS,
Great Falls, Mont.

DEAR SIR: We of the Montana Wildlife Federation believe that the Lincoln Scapegoat Wilderness should be retained in all its natural wild condition and therefor urge the support and passage by Congress of S. 1121 by Senator Metcalf and H.R. 7148 by Congressman Battin.

Sincerely yours,

H. R. MILLER, President.

STATEMENT OF ALBERT W. STONE, MISSOULA, MONT.

Gentlemen; my special field of professional interest is water law and resources, and I teach courses in that area as well as a seminar in Natural Resources at the School of Law at the University of Montana, Hence I have a serious interest in land uses, particularly in this locality where my professional interest can be supplemented by personal observation and participation.

The Lincoln-Sscapegoat back-country area is one which is not well suited to multiple uses, easy access by automobile or mass recreation. Its lakes are mostly small and shallow so that they do not lend themselves to motor boating or water skiing, and they would be much more readily "fished out" than larger bodies of water.

On the other hand, if only because of its present remoteness, the area is suitable to high quality use as a wilderness area. The retention of such areas as wilderness provides a desirable variety in recreational activities which even the multiple use concept cannot attain. Persons who desire to remove themselves from the presence of the nearly almighty automobile should be able to find area where that desire can be satisfied.

There are already numerous scenic and recreational areas which have been made readily accessible; remote areas with their isolation, tranquility and naturalness are all too rare. This is one of the latter-areas, and should be preserved for the values that it presently affords.

So I join with those who support the Metcalf-Mansfield bill, and speak in favor of a wilderness classification for the Lincoln-Scapegoat area.

STATEMENT OF ANNE C. RUSOFF, MISSOULA, MONT.

Mr. Chairman, I submit the following statement for inclusion in the printed hearing record on S. 1121.

My name is Anne Rusoff; I am eighteen years old and am presently a freshman at the University of Montana. For the past two summers I have worked as a trail cook for an outfitter in the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

Although I have not spent very much time in the proposed Lincoln-Scapegoat Wilderness Area, each year I have made at least one trip through it. Each time I was impressed by the beauty of the country and the fragility of the balance between man and nature.

Both summers our second day camp was about one mile inside the Bob Marshall Wilderness from the boundary of the proposed Lincoln-Scapegoat Wilderness Area. Every year our guests and I have been thrilled by close views of large game animals.

This year a cow moose and a young calf, scarcely old enough to keep up with his mother at a walk, ambled across a hillside about fifty yards from my cookstove. This was in broad daylight. My own excitement and that of the Indiana doctors with me, is inexpressible.

The preceding year as I was cooking an early breakfast and talking with some guests a young bull elk rose out of a depression less than fifty feet from us. After peering at us for a few moments, he turned his back on us and began licking the ground which apparently was salty. Having satisfied his desire for salt, in about half-an-hour he leisurely left.

Neither of these experiences is an ordinary occurrence even in Montana. Anywhere that cars and hordes of people approach within hearing distance large animals such as moose, elk and deer are extremely timid and are seldom seen except occasionally at night. If there had been a road up to the boundary of the Bob Marshall Wilderness, i.e., through the Lincoln-Scapegoat Area, my guests and I would have missed these marvelous experiences and many more similar ones. Unless we are going to crowd our wildlife into the center of the Bob Marshall Wilderness, the Lincoln-Scapegoat Area must become a wilderness.

Will your children and mine be able to enjoy this area in its free, wild state, or will they see only another rest stop as they drive along a highway? The choice is yours. Please choose the Lincoln-Scapegoat Wilderness Area.

[From the Missoulian, Sept. 10, 1968]

SCENIC ROAD PLAN FOR LINCOLN AREA

Construction of a scenic road across the Continental Divide to provide an alpine recreation route connecting Missoula and Great Falls is a prime part of a Forest Service proposal for management of the Blackfoot-Sun River Divide Area described before Missoula Lions Club Monday in the Florence Hotel.

Supervisor John Milodragovich of the Lolo National Forest, in making an illustrated presentation entitled "Management for People," brought out that the road crossing the divide southeast of Scapegoat Mountain would have termini near Lincoln, Ovando and Augusta.

The proposed plan calls for building additional short, multi-purpose roads to provide access to interior recreation areas. Road-end facilities would serve as jumping-off points for wilderness and high country walks and rides.

The proposal Milodragovich outlined gave 10 other ideas as follows: 1. To protect nearby and distant viewing areas by scenic corridors along roads and trails; 2. To recognize that some roads would safely serve winter as well as summer visitors; 3. To build small campgrounds where needed as recreation hubs for visits to attractions throughout the area.

4. To manage the forest on about one-fourth of the area for sustained timber crops; 5. To continue commercial outfitting services on the trails and ways serving the high country and in portions of the lower area; 6. To study the Scapegoat Mountain country for consideration as a geologic area.

7. To improve wildlife habitat where it will aid in increasing forage supplies. 8. To restore damaged stream channels and stream banks; 9. To install sanitation facilities where public use requires; 10. To study the area potential for at least one major winter sports area.

Milodragovich brought out that the proposal does not envision any of the following: 1. New roads in the high country except for the one scenic drive, high zones continuing to be trail country; 2. A road through the Big Slide area; 3. Roads closer to streams and lakes than topography dictates; 4. Permanent logging spurs (after use they would be blocked) 5. Harvest of timber on steep slopes, unstable soils or "normal" harvest in recreation zones.

A pamphlet which Milodragovich used in his presentation emphasized on the inside cover that the Forest Service is dedicated to the principle of multiple use management of the nation's forest resources for sustained yields of wood, water, forage, wildlife and recreation.

Leading up to the Forest Service's plan for managing the Blackfoot-Sun River Area, which covers 491,000 acres, Milodragovich pointed out that public requirements now are placing heavier demands upon outdoor recreation, water, wood, forage, and wildlife in all national forests.

Whether the rising demand continues at present levels or accelerates, need has developed to look carefully at how this area can best serve people and communities, according to the supervisor.

The official listed the following as some of the local circumstances that have led to the decision to do so: 1. Actual and predicted population increases in Lincoln, Missoula, Great Falls and other nearby communities: 2. Rising summer and winter use of the area by riders, hikers and operators of motorized vehicles. 3. Increased demands for off-highway automobile travel routes by local and out-of-state visitors; 4. Realization of the need for more intensive development plans for key areas to permit thorough analysis of all possible alternatives for their management; 5. An early need for forest stands to contribute to the annual yields of wood from three national forests or a decision to reduce yearly harvests from these national forests.

Announcement was made that a Congressional committee will conduct a hearing on the proposal in Great Falls Sept. 25.

[From the Great Falls Tribune, Sept. 19, 1968]

BACK COUNTRY MANAGEMENT

PATTERN MUST CONSIDER ALL RESOURCES

(The editorial below is by a guest editor. Opinions expressed are those of the

guest editor)

During the past several years, all of us in the Forest Service's Northern Region have been asked for our thoughts on the long-range management of today's back country areas. Optional approaches to managing one nearly roadless tract are described in "Patterns For Management: Blackfoot-Sun River Divide Area" and in a second illustrated booklet entitled "Management For People." As these recent Forest Service reports state, today's absence of roads leaves all of the management options open for consideration.

More than half of this country is high and rugged. The high elevation zones form an interesting pattern of peninsulas and islands throughout the entire area, rather than a solid block. Within the high zones little development other than trails and a few marked ways would serve riders and hikers, perhaps always.

Another option would be a single scenic road crossing through the alpine zone. Such a road would open its scenic views and colorful flora to many more visitors. With termini near Ovando and Lincoln on the southwest and Augusta on the northeast, the road could offer an interesting variety of through trips and loop drives.

Summer enjoyment of the high country could be supplemented by more nearly year-round recreation on the lower slopes and in the valleys. A limited road network here would offer skiers and snowmobile enthusiasts access to country as beautiful in winter as in summer.

Small campgrounds beside the roads could form recreation hubs from which visitors would walk short distances to scenic spots, streams and lakes. From roadends they could ride or hike chosen distances into the 950,000 acres of the adjoining Bob Marshall Wilderness. There is no hint yet that public demands for a variety of family outdoor recreation experiences are slackening.

Properly designed and located recreation roads could also provide transportation routes for forest crops. Wildland forests below the high mountain zones and away from recreation lands would yield sustainable harvests of about 16 million board feet a year now. Forest management could produce 30 million board feet annually from the best timber growing acres.

This big woodpile is difficult to visalize. Perhaps different terminology would help. Each million board feet can be identified with the roughly 71⁄2-man-years work required to harvest, transport, process and sell it. Economists might add to this the man-years of employment required by industries and businesses providing auxiliary services.

There are other resources within the area-water, forage for cattle and horses, food for wildlife, fish habitat and minerals. Each must be woven into the patterns of management selected for the Blackfoot-Sun River Divide Country.

ΚΕΝΝΕΤΗ ΚΕΕΝΕΥ,

Chief of the Division for Information and Education, Region 1, U.S. Forest Service, Missoula.

Senator BURDICK. Clifford Haines, chairman of the Flathead County Board of County Commissioners.

Senator METCALF. Mr. Chairman, I have a telegram from Clifford Haines saying he was unable to be here, but will file a statement. Senator BURDICK. Grover Botkin, Great Falls.

STATEMENT OF T. SGT. GROVER F. BOTKIN, GREAT FALLS, MONT.

Sergeant BOTKIN. I am T. Sgt. Grover F. Botkin, attached to the 341st Supply Squadron at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Great Falls, Mont. I would like to make it clear I am not speaking for any military aspect, I am speaking for myself. I am also a hunter safety instructor for the State of Montana and an active hunter, fisherman, and a firearms collector. While I am not a native Montanan, this is my second tour of duty here at my own request. I like this State and am seriously considering settling here upon retirement in 1971. I have lived in Montana over 2 years. I would like to add that I am probably one of the poorer paid employees in the State of Montana, being paid by the Air Force. I have found in the last 3 years I can afford to hire a commercial packer in Lincoln to take me back, me and my son, into the back country for a period of anywhere from 5 days to 2 weeks. The cost is probably equal to about three tires on a pickup truck with

a camper.

I am familiar with the Lincoln back country area, having packed and ridden horseback through much of the area, the most recent trip

during this past week for a period of 6 days. It is my honest belief that if a highway or series of highways are constructed into this area, the natural beauty will be forever ruined. It is because of these areas of true wilderness that my family and I want to settle here. We are not alone in this idea, and I am personally acquainted with many military people that have the same thoughts. Montana has a few of the only true wilderness areas in the United States. They are a precious asset not only to the people that live here or in the nearby vicinity, but more important, to the country as a whole. Many, many people visit this area from all States. This is mainly due to the fact that there are these remote, natural areas to see, explore, and admire.

In the back country, as those who have recently seen it know, there are even now marks of mankind. I saw man's brand in the form of the beer and pop cans, cigarette packs, empty meat cans, broken bottles, and gut-shot deer. If the highways are constructed into this area, multiply these sins against nature by thousands. If you doubt this, look at other areas that have been exploited by mining, lumber, motels, cafes, bars, and other businesses and you will see what will happen to this area. The people who want this area opened up by roads will call it progress. The same type people call the extermination of the buffalo progress. When they took the land from the Indians it was progress. When the prairie was fenced and railroaded it was progress. Dam up all the rivers, pollute them, and it's progress. Dig large gaping holes in the hills and throw the silt and poison in the streams and it's progress. Then cut down all the forest until they are bare and eroded and it's progress. If this is what we can call progress, then myself and my kind want no part of progress. A real and honest type of progress would be to include areas of this type into our wilderness program, protect the forest and its wildlife, permanently assure that the area remains natural as it was years ago, and assure our children that they and their grandchildren will be able to see some small part of the country as it always has been. Thank you for the privilege of being able to speak my beliefs on this matter.

Senator BURDICK. Mrs. William C. Vinyard, University of Montana, Bigfork, Mont.

STATEMENT OF LUCILLE VINYARD, BIGFORK, MONT.

Mrs. VINYARD. My name is Lucille Vinyard, and I reside presently near Bigfork, Mont. I am pleased to be able to present my views to you today in favor of the Lincoln-Scapegoat Wilderness Area, knowing that my views are shared by thousands of concerned, taxpaying, voting citizens throughout the Nation. I want to say that I am speaking as a private citizen. Though I am a permanent resident of northern California, I am well acquainted with numerous mountain areas in northwestern Montana, having resided at the University of Montana Biological Station on Flathead Lake for 2 months of each of the past 6 years and for the coming year will be a full-time resident.

As a research assistant on an aquatic plant distribution survey in alpine and subalpine areas of northwestern Montana this past summer I had the opportunity to pack into a part of the proposed LincolnScapegoat area. What I saw of the area excited me.