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communities, and the motorized recreational needs of our citizens. 

 For a hundred years the Forest Service has been able to meet these 

 needs and still insure that we have a healthy and perpetual forest. 

 I do not believe that we should change the direction of that man- 

 agement. 



I do not agree with wilderness expansion here in the Hills or ac- 

 tually anjrwhere in the country because now we're not preserving 

 pristine areas. It's become a land grab. It's been extended to areas 

 that have been logged and mined and grazed and roaded. Wilder- 

 ness areas pose a threat to themselves and to the surrounding 

 public and private lands. These lands are by law left to natural 

 processes, and nature tends to renew forest through catastrophic 

 methods. 



The Black Hills are historically managed through wildfire and 

 by the mountain pine beetle, and there's absolutely no reason to 

 believe that natural management in wilderness areas would spare 

 our forests or our local residents from these catastrophes. These 

 processes do not recognize property lines. They destroy animal 

 habitat. 



Also, expansion of the wilderness system would mean a tragic 

 loss in the amount of timber available for our products, not just for 

 our generation but for all of those to come. The growing of trees for 

 timber is a long-term commitment. The seedlings of today will be 

 lumber for my great grandchildren. Any land that we set aside 

 today reduces the amount of timber and lumber available for those 

 who follow us. I don't believe that we have the right to say that 

 our descendants cannot have affordable shelter and daily newspa- 

 pers and abundant forests because we were shortsighted and we set 

 aside land in this generation. 



I ask that the Members of this Committee put the needs of indi- 

 viduals, small businesses, and our forest environment ahead of 

 those who would have us padlock Federal lands so that the healthy 

 and the wealthy can hike in solitude. When wilderness lands burn 

 or its trees die from infestation, these people are going to go else- 

 where for their recreation. Those of us who have made the Black 

 Hills our home will be left here to deal with the aftermath. 



You know, of course, that right now the Forest Service is facing 

 the monumental task of revising the forest plan. This document af- 

 fects almost every person in the area. Because we can select cut 

 here, many visitors to the area are unaware that there's even any 

 logging going on in the Hills. Logging has been used, however, to 

 create the beautiful forest that we have today. And because of this, 

 I'm very disturbed by indications that our plan might reduce the 

 amount of timber to be harvested. This is not a national park cre- 

 ated solely for the enjoyment of people and for the protection of 

 wildlife. It's not a wilderness area created for solitude and natural- 

 ness. It's a national forest created for a continuous supply of 

 timber and for a perpetual forest and dedicated to community sta- 

 bility. Yet it seems that like many of our national forests, it's being 

 managed more and more as an old growth preserve, a nonmotor- 

 ized recreational preserve, and a wildlife preserve. 



I think that we should change the current policy of managing for 

 wildlife at epidemic levels and we should instead manage for en- 

 demic levels. I believe that we should give maximum opportunities 



