40 



Ms. Mitchell. In an affidavit by Mr. Peter Grubb, who is a com- 

 mercial float outfitter in a recent court case, he was a plaintiff; he 

 said that if powerboats were eliminated, that he could increase his 

 business by 70 percent. 



Mr. COOLEY. What would that mean in dollars? 



Ms. Mitchell. As far as dollars, I don't know. I mean, a Jetboat 

 trip for a day is $75, $85, and I would say that a float is probably 

 $150, $200 a day. It is a lot more expensive. 



The experts on that are obviously the commercial floaters, but it 

 certainly is a more costly enterprise and expense than it is to go 

 on a Jetboat trip for a day. 



Mr. CoOLEY. Mr. Sherwin, are you a commercial floater? 



Mr. Sherwin. No, I am not commercial at all. 



Mr. CoOLEY. We are talking about something motivating this for 

 monetary reasons, and I think, Madame Chairman, we should 

 probably look to try to find out what are we talking about here. Are 

 we talking about lots and lots of money, or are we talking about 

 a little of it? 



I thought we were here trying to regulate the resource and not 

 looking at the monetary factor. Maybe we are looking at the wrong 

 area. 



From the testimony given, it looks like the powerboats are less 

 harmful to the environment than the floater is, but the floater ap- 

 parently, according to testimony, goes on the beaches and have 

 recreation on the beaches for hours and hours and hours, and the 

 powerboaters, it looks to me like they go down and stop at a place, 

 go back up and get out pretty quickly. 



I think we should ask about the dollar value. I didn't mean to 

 ask it. We just got off of what we were talking about, and hope- 

 fully, we are not talking about taking money from the public, but 

 managing a resource. 



Thank you, Madame Chairman. 



Mrs. Chenoweth. Thank you, Mr. Cooley. Mrs. Mitchell, you 

 heard Mr. Richmond make the statement about the fact that he 

 doubts or he had concern about the figures in the report that the 

 outfitters and guides had put together and compiled with regards 

 to the economic impact of this decision. 



Would you be able to supply verification that these figures were 

 accumulated in a scientific manner? 



Ms. Mitchell. Absolutely. When we began that process of doing 

 an economic analysis, we discussed it on January 24th in the For- 

 est Service and they said if we could provide a model, they would 

 take a look at it. 



We went to great difficulty to provide that model and to give it 

 to the Forest Service with the intent that we would continue to 

 work together until we would come up with a model that they 

 would accept and would truly demonstrate what that plan will do 

 economically to those outfitters. 



Presently, that door has been closed. I was delighted to hear Mr. 

 Richmond say that if we provide him that information that he will 

 revisit that economic model and take a look at it. It is our goal to 

 work with the Forest Service to provide the accurate information 

 they need to make a good decision. 



