Ill 



comprised of a small segment of our society who believes that land and the control of the 

 land belongs in the hands of our federal govermnent. 



Today's preservationists, whether well-meaning or insidious, are negatively affecting tfie 

 management of our public lands. Often armed with studies conducted on Carribbean 

 islands and tropical jimgles, they have entered the pubUc arena to falsely state that those of 

 us who have lived on the land for generations are not caring for it adequately, that we are 

 for some insane reason determined to destroy our parents' legacy and our children's 

 heritage. Improvements can certainly be made in any activity, inchiding resource uses. 

 Improvements in techniques, knowledge, and equipment have been made steadily over 100 

 years of logging and will continue to be made. Improvement is not, however, the goal of 

 these activists. Simply stated, their goal is the cessation of aU commercial and motorized 

 uses of public lands, as well as severe restrictions upon the uses of private lands. The 

 federal government controls one-third (1/3) of tiie land in this country. Cessation of 

 traditional uses of these lands will cause economic and environmental devastation. 



From the activities of eariy environmentalists and preservationists have come various land 

 use philosophies. The National Park system was created to preserve truly unique areas in 

 our country for the enjoyment of people and the protection of wildlife. Then came the 

 Wilderness system, created to set aside 'pristine' areas for the predominance of natural 

 processes and to provide settings for nature to be enjoyed in solitude. The Wilderness 

 system has now grown to encompass ninety (90) million acres. Each of these original 

 concepts may be worthy, but combined they lock one hundred seventy million 

 (170,000,000) acres of land away from the production of goods needed by Americans, and 

 lower local tax bases. More importantly, they remove this vast acreage from the modem 

 methods of land management which make it possible to keep lands healthy in an ever- 

 constricting, ever-demanding world. 



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