**Statement of**

**Joel Holtrop**

**Deputy Chief, National Forest System**

**U.S. Forest Service**

**United States Department of Agriculture**

**Before the**

**Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests\
Energy and Natural Resources Committee**

**United States Senate**

**September 20, 2007**

**Concerning**

**S. 1802, Idaho Wilderness Boundary Modification Act of 2007;**

**S. 1939, Santa Fe National Forest Title Claim Resolution Act, and;**

**S. 2034, Copper Salmon Wilderness Act**

**\
**Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I appreciate the
opportunity to appear before you to provide the Department's views on
the bills which are on the agenda today.

**S. 1802, Idaho Wilderness Boundary Modification Act of 2007**

This bill would adjust the boundaries of the Frank Church River of No
Return Wilderness and provide authorization for a land ownership
adjustment to resolve conflicts related to unauthorized improvements.

The Department would support the bill if amended to correct the survey
description and provide for a more appropriate manner in which to
resolve the associated land issues.

The Diamond D Ranch consists of three separate parcels of private land
located in the Challis National Forest and surrounded by the Frank
Church River of No Return Wilderness near Stanley, Idaho. In 2001, a
boundary survey identified several unauthorized improvements associated
with the ranch on National Forest System lands, including a portion of a
water diversion and transmission pipeline in the designated wilderness
area. Most of the unauthorized improvements, which also include fences,
roads, and borrow pits, predate wilderness designation. The ranch owner
has offered to enter into negotiations with the Forest Service to effect
an exchange of the lands containing unauthorized improvements for other
interests that could be more desirable for National Forest management.

The wilderness configuration in this vicinity is an approximately 10.2
acre triangular shaped area between two private parcels. Due to the
adjacency of private lands and the unauthorized improvements, this area
lacks the characteristics normally associated with designated
wilderness. The bill would retract the wilderness boundary to exclude
the 10.2 acres and expand the wilderness boundary to add approximately
the same acreage to the wilderness in a nearby location. This would
adjust the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness with no net loss
of designated wilderness, while improving its overall wilderness
characteristics.

In addition, through a waiver of qualifying criteria, the bill would
give the Secretary the discretion to use the Small Tracts Act (P.L.
97-465) in order for the Forest Service to address the unauthorized
improvements.

The Department supports the bill's goals of improving wilderness
characteristics while resolving long standing land management issues.
However, as written, the bill contains technical errors in the survey
description of the lands proposed to be excluded and included in the
wilderness. It also contains a technical error in the description of the
lands that would be subject to the waiver of the Small Tracts Act
acreage requirement. In addition, the Department would prefer to use a
different land adjustment authority than the Small Tracts Act, which is
not appropriate to this situation.

The Department would like to work with the bill's sponsor and the
committee to make these technical corrections and provide for a more
appropriate land adjustment authority. We will support the bill with
these amendments and appreciate the opportunity to enhance the Frank
Church River of No Return Wilderness.

**S. 1939, Santa Fe National Forest Title Claim Resolution Act**

S. 1939 would authorize and direct the Forest Service to quitclaim
approximately 6.20 acres of Federal land to Ramona and Boyd Lawson in
satisfaction of a longstanding land title claim.

The Department supports the enactment of this bill.

The land in question is in the Santa Fe National Forest and within the
boundaries of the Pecos Wild and Scenic River. The Lawsons are
successors to a land patent issued in 1888 and they claimed that a
government survey of the patented land had erroneously excluded about 12
acres where their house and outbuildings were located.

There were sufficient legal and factual issues in dispute between the
government and the Lawsons that this matter could have ended up in
court. However, the parties worked out a solution that is simple and
equitable, saving considerable time and expense for all. The Lawsons and
the Forest Service agreed to limit the area of the claim to 6.2 acres
which covers the land the Lawsons are actually occupying and using. In
turn, the Lawsons have agreed to convey to the Forest Service a
conservation easement on the property to protect wild and scenic river
values, and to release the government from future claims. S. 1939 will
authorize the Forest Service to implement this agreement and thereby
allow the Lawsons the quiet enjoyment of their home while, at the same
time, preserving the scenic and natural environs of the Pecos Wild &
Scenic River.

**S. 2034, Copper Salmon Wilderness Act**

This bill would designate approximately 13,700 acres of the Rogue
River-Siskiyou National Forest as wilderness and designate segments of
the North and South Forks of the Elk River as additions to the existing
Elk Wild and Scenic River.

The Department supports this bill, but requests some important
adjustments to the wilderness boundary. These adjustments would provide
for better separation of motorized use from the wilderness, allow for
road maintenance activities within road clearing limits (such as ditch
cleaning and culvert and bridge maintenance), as well as to accommodate
treatments of plantations that would improve forest health and habitat
diversity while increasing firefighter safety.

The wilderness proposal comprises 13,700 acres of rugged forested land
surrounding Copper Mountain, Barklow Mountain, and Salmon Mountain
adjacent to the Grassy Knob Wilderness. It contains vast stands of
Douglas fir and relatively rare native Port Orford cedar trees. About
ten percent of the proposed wilderness area is designated in the
Siskiyou National Forest Plan as a "Supplemental Resource Area",
considered highly productive habitat for wildlife and fish, critical for
the maintenance of watershed condition, and with special recreation
values. Lands within the proposed wilderness are primarily allocated as
Late Successional Reserves (LSR) under the Northwest Forest Plan. LSRs
are designed to serve as habitat for old growth-related species. This
LSR allocation includes 2,267 acres of previously managed overstocked
Douglas fir plantations.

Using perimeter forest roads as the boundary designation would likely
lead to unintended incursions of motorized vehicles and mechanized
equipment into the wilderness. In addition most of the plantations
adjacent to forest roads that comprise a portion of the wilderness
boundary (about 1,000 acres) were included in the Coastal Healthy Forest
Environmental Analysis signed in 2007. Treatment of these stands would
improve habitat conditions for fish and wildlife, reduce effects from
insects and disease, and provide defensible space for firefighters in
the event of a wildfire, consistent with their allocation as Late
Successional Reserve (LSRs). Wilderness designation would preclude this
treatment.

The proposed wilderness includes about nine miles of designated roads.
All but two of those road miles are currently closed to vehicular
traffic; however, these roads are highly engineered up steep slopes,
with significant cuts and fills, culverts, and other constructed
features. If the area is designated as wilderness, the forest would
consider converting some of these roads into hiking and equestrian
trails to improve access, but most would require decommissioning to
protect water quality and fisheries resource values. This would require
heavy equipment to remove culverts and contour the land to reduce
erosion, as well as significant investment.

The Department would like to work with the bill's sponsor and the
committee to offset the wilderness boundary inward along perimeter roads
to implement planned treatments within a reasonable distance of the
road, provide for routine road maintenance, and to decrease the
likelihood of incompatible motorized use in wilderness. We also request
that the bill include the date of the map referencing the intended
wilderness configuration.

The bill would designate segments of the North and South Forks of the
Elk River as additions to the existing Elk Wild and Scenic River. The
Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest completed an extensive wild and
scenic river inventory and, while both tributaries are free-flowing,
neither was judged to have an outstandingly remarkable value.
Nevertheless, in recognition of the value of managing the Elk River as a
system that contributes to one of the most important and valuable runs
of anadromous fish in coastal Oregon, the Department does not oppose the
proposed additions in this bill.

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, this concludes my testimony.
I am happy to answer any questions you may have at this time.