thank you very much for your time, and I'm honored to be invited to take part in the program today, and I'm delighted to be with my colleague Jim Oberstar for whom I have a enormous respect he is not only knowledgeable about the subject for speaking to this afternoon, but In his time in the Congress is proving to be an enormously effective. And and even eloquent spokesman for our state. What I'm going to do is in park. Cover ground that you've heard, but I have to do it to make my case. You heard already for example that the bwca was included in the wilderness Act of 1964. It is the second largest. Wilderness in the National Wilderness system and it's the largest east of the Rockies. It is the location of the last extensive virgin Timber areas in the United States. And one of the few remaining areas in which the complete food chain up to the largest predators. How do you spell reserved? Well minivan that shows you the broad outlines that you already familiar with. To see that there are three segments to the bwca the central second of being the largest the dark colored areas that are actually colored red. represent additions that we would make under our bill to the bwca they cover places which if unprotected leave a kind of a bad boundary line bringing in the other side of the lake for example, and you can see there something. There's some I think it doesn't areas or so that it would be added. Let me read them. If I'm a a description of the bwca that taken from crisis and Canoe Country which was written by but handsome and I think it kind of incapsulate at what we're looking at here. He says it would be difficult. To exaggerate the bwca significances of conservation and Recreation resource. Are they already in the first place is truly big wild country stretching along the Minnesota Ontario Ontario border for 110 Mi. It is a land of a thousand Christy Island studded Lakes connected by 1200 miles of streams party does and foot Trails or dark forests of Jack Pine and black Spruce March out to the edges of punching Glacier carb Lakeside Cliffs or sturdy centuries-old white and red Pines. Keep lonely vigil over canoe routes once followed by the Sioux the Chippewa on the French voyageurs or the mournful howl of the Timber Wolf for The Haunting laughter the balloon awake and memories of primitive Ole America. How precisely because the bwca is the last large relatively complete Northern coniferous forest ecosystem east of the Rockies sinus and students use it as a living laboratory studying its areas of natural vegetation inhabited by such plant eaters as the Moose Beaver snowshoe hare and porcupine and their natural Predators including such rare species is the Eastern Timber Wolf Martin Fisher links and bald eagle even many Wilderness areas of the West lack such complete food chains. The area has become the focus of much research and education in for wildlife ecology animal behavior of Education history nutrient cycling and Aquatic ecosystems. A complement in the bwca is Ontario's adjacent 1120000 acre quetico Provincial Park. We're logging and snowmobiles are banned and motor boats are barred except on the periphery on the ladder and early motorboat phase-out is proposed together these two elements expenses match the size of Yellowstone National Park. Well, you've already heard now the history of the bwca it goes back to 19 Earley 1900 when President Teddy Roosevelt designated the area Superior National Forest. I didn't 1926 the decision that no roads would be built in the best Canoe Country 1930. The Lakeshore has protected from logging and Dam building was prohibited in 49 the ban on the use of float planes. in 1964 the enactment of the national Wilderness act which brought to bwca into it, but in a qualified status and then in 1965. the new management plan Which divided the bwca in the two areas and that's Illustrated in this? slide the yellow sections are the portal zones the zones in which logging is permitted. And the same plan designated some 19 motor routes. In other words parts of the bwca open for the use of motorized travel those routes cover 60% of the water area of the bwca. Put in a 1976 snowmobiles were banned. And so what the history is in brief is one of steadily increasing protection of the bwca. That's the history and and we're now almost at the critical juncture which way Do we go we're still faced with a controversy over logging? It shouldn't be permitted. I should my name be allowed or banned. I should motorboats be permitted as they now are on 60%. 60% of the bwca water surface. And then perhaps the final question should the ban on snowmobiles be continued. Have the Wilderness act in 64 made the bwca true Wilderness. All of these issues would have been resolved. Because in a true Wilderness motorized travel is outlawed logging is band. And of course, my name is not permitted. The 1964 act to find a Wilderness in these terms is that it's an area where the Earth and his community of Life are untrammelled by man. Where Madame self is a visitor who does not remain one which retains is Prime Evil character and its natural conditions. And with the imprint of man's work is substantially unnoticeable. So under our bill, we would give the full million Acres a true Wilderness status. We would ban motorized travel logging. a mining I'd like to take up each of these elements of Multiple used that we would outlaw just two to talk about why we believe they need to be outlawed. Logging in the bwca has generally involve clear-cutting of large Timber sales blocks of followed by bulldozing of the soils artificially reforesting applying herbicides in car sometimes neglecting to reforest at all. And this is resulted in severe changes in the balances of nature of scarring of the landscape and the emergence of a network of Roads. Are the 1 million acres in the bwca over half or more precisely 540000 Acres still contain virgin Forest. Those are depicted in the slide that you see. The Virgin forests are marked in blue. And you can see the network of logging roads. We're logging has been completed in recent years. Some of the area in the center which shows that there's no a virgin Timber but no login roads was logged much of it in the last century. Now all of these 540,000 virgin Acres 160000 acres are in the portal Zone. Which is open to logging under the present status of the law. And this map shows the overlap of the Virgin Timber with a portal Zone and you can quite make it out but it's the green areas is putting a yellow over blue producing green. It's the green areas that are still open. how to login Under the existing management plan. in December of 1976 for Timber companies holding contracts to cut some 10,000 acres of Virgin Timber. Announce they hope to begin logging by the first of the year. Through the efforts of my colleague Jim Oberstar working with the forest service lease companies. There has been agrima to suspend the logging through September of this year in order to give Congress an opportunity. had to act But unless we are at least 10,000 acres of Virgin Timber will be cut. This is particularly troubling because of the fact that this virgin Forest Area represents the last extensive virgin area in the eastern part of the United States and therefore has considered scientific and educational value. Now sometimes argued that you need to log forest in order to keep them productive, but in my judgment, this is a misleading argument. The props most persuasive argument. Is it without logging these 540000 Acres of Virgin Timber have existed for over 10,000 years since the last ice age. And the goal of wilderness is not to preserve a single tree stand. or two propagate particular animal species are but to really maintain and restore the complete the natural conditions allowing the interactions that normally occur in nature among plant communities wildlife habitats and animal populations. If logging is going to be used as a management tool for the bwca, there's absolutely no way the Nature's Own processes can be duplicated. Are the key environmental factor in maintaining the diversity of vegetation and animal populations in the bwca has been fire. If you look at the history of fire, you find it over the last century on the average of fires have occurred somewhere on the bwca once every five years a century before that based on the identifiable Fires at least one every 10 years. Fire regenerates Old Forest recycles the nutrients and accounts for the long-term stability of the system. How about if you have fire occurring in an area after logging, it has quite a different effect than a fire that occurs in a virgin Timber Forest Area. For example if Red Pine and white pine Jack Pine a black Spruce are cut for Timber. And a fire then Burns over these areas. The tree seeds are destroyed and it becomes necessary. Artificially receipt. Are we plant in order to restore the forest? This isn't on the area will be taken over by Birch and Aspen. But the nature jackpine and black Spruce seeds are starting closed-door semi-closed cones. It was in these open and received the area after the fires heat has on sealed air coding. Also, when a Timber stand is log the nutrients contained in the removed mature trees the trees that are shipped out. Which would have been recycled by a fire these nutrients are lost. Now there's another problem here in that is it if we begin to use logging to meet to manage a Wilderness Area we set a very dangerous precedent. There is no logging permitted in Yellowstone Sequoia of the selway-bitterroot Wilderness, which is the forest service's largest wilderness. And another national parks and Wilderness areas. So it's therefore. I think it makes little sense to argue. That logging is a needed management tool for the bwca the same ecological management principles should apply in all areas. I have another slide here which shows this is a study of Superior National Forest. The red areas show the areas least suitable for management as a renewable resource. That is a commercial harvesting of the September the Blue Area the dark area shows the best are the best part. Red Ariat is the least desirable in part because of the thinness of the soil. It simply isn't adequate to provide the kind of fist ability and bass for the management of a renewable resource when you can see how that covers the most of the bwca. Well, then let me turn to the snow will building a motor boating issue. The motor boating is allowed on the 19 Roots again to pick Dad on this map and again covering a 60% of the water surface of the bwca. Now under this plan, there are different sizes of Motors permitted. There's unlimited horsepower in General on Waters, which can be entered from the outside or you don't have to cross over any law and that particular includes a lot of cry area. Up sort of at the very top left and the Loon River in Loon Lake. It also covers. snowbank and Moose Lake Northeast of Ali and so I can go and see go lakes and Blue Lake. Then in that far east peace in the carabao unit is is called Pine and clear water lakes unlimited horsepower. Is a 25 horsepower limit in the Basswood and he already has Southwest of Basswood that Siri just Northeast of Ely sort of running down toward Ely. I'm sure everyone is here video was the horsepower to 25 horsepower is a very very large motor. It's large enough, so my kids can ski behind it. 10 horsepower is the remaining limitation and that's on places like Crooked Lake. And on Knife Lake on the boundary area and generally then in the other areas not otherwise designated now at the Canadiens. on their side that is in the quetico Provincial Park if banned all motor use Except for 10 horsepower on the boundary areas and our understanding is they plan to phase that out? One of our beliefs is that it will be useful if both the quetico and the bwca are managed generally on the same basis. a problem with motorboating is the When the forest service did a study through interviewing newest in the bwca, they got a 93% response from the canoeist indicating that encounter with motor boats had marred at the carnival Wilderness experience, which they were seeking. Another problem with the motor boats is it because they do move rapidly and there's more of a sense of crowding is distinguished from the use of Simply of of canoes. No prep. The most important Point here to make phone is one that really needs to be underscored and that is They're all kinds of lakes open for motorboat use in this area not to mention the rest of the state. How big likes for example Crane or Rainy Lake which is the largest park all open to motorboating Vermilion Gunflint and many many more. So if you want someone wants to motor there are normous number of opportunities. How to do so in the cars the same is true of snowmobilers, you can snowmobile all over the state you can use state parks or trails. What the bwca is the only canoe Wilderness Area in the united Lake canoe area in the United States. If you want a canoe based Wilderness experience, you have one place to go in the United States and that's up here. So I want to underscore the fact that those I like to motorboat. But there are all kinds of places where this can be done. It's all right. I think it's very real question is why do we have to continue to intrude in the wilderness? And what we'd like to see a will in this area was motorboat when so many other opportunities exist. Well, I know you should mining perhaps not worth spending as much time on because under either of our bills mining would be barred the approach of somewhat different in our state legislature has made mining more difficult assaulted to accept emergency. I should be banned. Went out then. Let me show you a slide hear that too. sort of characterizes Are you headed? Here now is a composite slide. You can see all of the motorized trails. Where the logging roads are the portals on open but the further logging so it's just the clear blue that is Wilderness that exist under the present management. And we would like to change that we would like to make the entire bwca Wilderness leave it without roads free of motorized travel and opened for the Wilderness experience which is unique in the United States. Now I want to talk about Jim's bill for just a minute or two. Because I think it's necessary to draw a contrast between ours. This is a Slides at the shows his General approach. The light brown is what he would leave as Wilderness and hear his Bell in mine would do the same thing that Within These light brown areas. He would make it a true Wilderness but in the dark brown areas and be put into a new category called the recreation area. Now the way he divides us is to add 125000 acres to the million Acres. And then he splits that leaving 650,000 in the Wilderness Area the light brown and then the recreation area would be roughly a half a million Acres. Now in the recreation area there would be a variety of commercial and public recreational activities including some commercial Timber harvesting. Yeah in a non-virgin for us. He would protect the Virgin forests even in the recreation area that snowmobiling in motorboating. Now he'll explain is Bell better than I'm able to but I want to just kind of point out some contrast now here. The first difficulty I have with approach which I might add. I think it's a thoughtful approach. It's it's one that has attempted to come to terms with these problems. About my differences with it through the following first. It takes 400,000 Acres out of the Wilderness system. Truth is they stand today at the qualified Wilderness none the less it's kind of a from my point of view of regression instead of improving its data supposed out. It would make it permanently Recreation Area. a second and in my view there is a need to retain the intact nature of the bwca on the grounds. I've already indicated is the largest Wilderness east of the Rockies the only Lakeland canoe area and saw on if by taking 400,000 Acres out of the Wilderness system, we would shrink the total Wilderness acreage east of the Rockies in the United States by 20% well now the second point is but if you take Superior National Forest, which is the whole green area there. There are two million Acres already outside of the bwca Superior National Forest is 3 million 1 million taken up by the bwca 2 million left. And open for the multiple recreational use which clearly many people would like to to have available. 1/3 it introduces uses which in a way are incompatible with the quetico Provincial Park, you know what the center area there the which is sort of northeast of Ely will abide on quite a show which is increasingly being manages a true Wilderness that would be an incompatibility in those two areas. Well in Jim's bill. He says one of its purposes is he says this act will protect the natural character and Environmental Quality of lakes streams and shorelines and prevent additional Road and Commercial development throughout the area. But later in the bill. He says this or this language is found the use disposal and processing of such resources. That is Timber Harvest wildlife habitat. Another resource activities shall be conducted so far as possible. So as to protect and improve the economic stability of all communities with preference given to the small business operator. So with these two statements of purpose would seem to have some problems when you try to upset one alongside the other the potential for continued dispute remains. In effect is one gets into the bill. That would be four levels of management required in the In the combined Romania is as bwca in the recreation area. four levels of use or planned experience levels This may create some very severe administrative problems for the for the forestry service. Well, then, let me go back to what we would do. that is we would make the entire bwca. True Wellness, we would add make 15 small editions with a total of 35000 digital Lakers. No snowmobiling no motorboating. No login and no mining. If you managed as a single ecological unit. We would maintain then this area of the largest east of the Rockies largest wilderness. And I think it's for the many generations that we hope will follow. This is the only course to pursue. Thank you very very much.