96 



agement plan by the Forest Service shows that: Of 29 allotments re-analyzed be- 

 tween 1984 and 1988, 78 percent showed either a significant increase or no signifi- 

 cant change in the acreage of range in satisfactory condition; only 14 percent of the 

 range showed a decrease in satisfactory conditions. 



People 



The final aspect of the environment I will address is people, because people are 

 clearly an integral part of the ecosystem. Biologic objectives cannot be separated 

 from the social and economic facets of the ecosystem. Many in the preservationist 

 community are clearly apologetic for people, believing the human species to be a 

 cancer in an otherwise perfect ecosystem. But the reality is that we're here, there 

 are some 5 billion of us, and we depend on the Earth's resources for our very surviv- 

 al. We in South Dakota need to be cognizant of the effects of our natural resource 

 use. Do we really take the moral high ground by reducing timber harvest or live- 

 stock production or mining in this country only to import those same commodities 

 from other countries, which often don't have the skill, technology or willingness to 

 do as environmentally sound a job as we do? 



The present management of our public lands in South Dakota works and works 

 well. We do not need or want more wilderness designation or alternatives which 

 propel a preservationist agenda at the expense of the people in the Black Hills. On 

 the table right now is a proposal from the Sierra Club to designate 122,000 acres of 

 the Black Hills National Forest and the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands as wilder- 

 ness. These areas don't even meet Wilderness Act definitions of "untrammeled by 

 man" — the areas in the Black Hills National Forest have roads, water develop- 

 ments, and have been logged, and the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands were all 

 originally homesteaded — homes were built and fields were plowed, even Crazy John- 

 son Table where peanuts were planted. Designating these areas wilderness will only 

 restrict existing access and uses. 



Also on the table is a Conservation Biology Alternative proposed by the Fiends of 

 the Bow from Laramie WY, which goes even further. Under the guise of the "Island 

 Biogeography Theory", this alternative proposes to designate 500,000 acres of the 

 Black Hills National Forest in a series of core areas connected by corridors in vvhich 

 roads are closed, no motorized activity allowed, no livestock are grazed, and private 

 land is purchased. 



The revision of the Black Hills NF Land Management Plan is a critical milestone 

 for several reasons: 



The Black Hills National Forest represents the pinnacle of multiple use man- 

 agement in the National Forest system. 



It is the first land management plan to be revised, and will set precedents for 

 the remaining 155 plan revisions. 



The Black Hills includes a public which strongly supports the current man- 

 agement, a region which depends heavily on the economic benefits, and a con- 

 frontational preservationist community intent on implementing a no use 

 agenda. 

 In my view the following are essential steps for the Black Hills: 



The FS has committed to implement Ecosystem Management. This is not a 

 new concept, but does provide a new framework through which to gauge land 

 management of our national forests. We should manage for integrity of ecosys- 

 tems. We must recognize however that people are part of the ecosystem, and 

 that non-management does not inherently provide for ecosystem sustainability. 

 Black Hills ecosystems developed naturally with periodic fires, insect epidemics 

 and other agents of change which people and communities are no longer willing 

 to accept. Fortunately, the occurrence of fires and insect epidemics can be mini- 

 mized and the positive effects mimicked through sound forest management 

 practices. 



A key to management of the forest is the defining of the Desired Future Condi- 

 tion, that is what do we want the forest to look like, and what opportunities do we 

 want, and what products should come from the forest in the future. 



Perpetual appeals of FS decisions must be stopped. Despite a proposal 2 years 

 ago, an out-of-control appeals process has still not been changed to prevent the 

 blocking of legitimate projects. 



