101 



seem to often get confused and have a hard time keeping their own 

 stories straight. For example, on Feb. 2, 1992, an article in 

 the Lewiston Morning Tribune, titled, "Conservationists seek tri- 

 state park, (exhibit #13) " the Hells Canyon Preservation 

 Council, (HCPC) , and other groups called for Congress to pay for 

 a study by the National Park Service to consider including Hells 

 Canyon into the national park system. HCPC vice president, Paul 

 Fritz, stated, "The Forest Service's continuing mismanagement of 

 the area forces the transfer of power." The article also stated, 

 "Drawing more attention and tourists could help elevate the 

 importance of recreation in the area and tourism's monetary 

 contribution to the region's economy, supporters added." 

 (emphasis added). Mr. Fritz added, "Rural communities get a shot 

 in the arm right away with a national park." The other groups 

 pushing for national park status of the canyon were the Oregon 

 Natural Resources Council and the National Parks and Conservation 

 Assoc i a t i on . 



While the vice president of the HCPC was advocating drawing 

 more attention and tourists to the Hells Canyon area by making it 

 into a park, Ric Bailey, the executive director of the council 

 and the editor of its journal, the Hells Canyon Falcon , made the 

 following comments in the Spring of 1993 issue while discussing 

 the improvements to the Pittsburgh Landing site; "Aside from 

 endangering the petroglyphs mentioned above, this development 

 will bring an entirely new group of users down from the canyon 

 rim into an already overcrowded area at the river's edge. it is 

 converting the rustic, semi -pr imi t i ve , historic river environment 

 into a glitzy, motorized tourist trap." (exhibit #14). 



It appears that within the leadership of the HCPC the left 

 hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. The only issue 

 all of them are consolidated on is the elimination of jet boats. 

 This would be in accordance with the words of Kurt Weidenmann, 

 leader of the Hells Canyon Planning Team had to say in an article 

 that appeared in the Lewiston Morning Tribune on Aug. 17, 1993. 

 He is quoted as saying; "When you sit down and listen to what 

 people want, they want exclusive use." (exhibit #15). Mr. 

 Weidenmann's statement certainly seems to be in line with the 

 reasoning of those who oppose the intent of this bill. They have 

 demonstrated consistently that they will never be satisfied with 

 jet boat limits, only with total elimination. 



Even though Ric Bailey is claiming to be against tourism and 

 bringing more people into the Hells Canyon area, he is still in 

 favor of turning the area into a national park. That would most 

 assuredly mean more tourism and create an even greater impact on 

 the environment of the area. On Sept. 24, 1993, Cecil Andrus , 

 the Governor of Idaho and former Secretary of the Interior, in 

 reference to designating the Hells Canyon area as a national 

 park, said; "Such status would attract much greater numbers of 

 people to a fragile environment and would further jeopardize the 

 resources that park proponents also want to protect." (exhibit 

 #16). Still, Ric Bailey and the HCPC push on with intent to turn 

 the entire area into a national park. 



The antics, exaggerations and deceitful tactics of Mr. 

 Bailey, in his attempts to eliminate those with whom he does not 



