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individuals at the ballot box must care. If once wild lands are lost, they are so irretrievably gone.

It is up to you officially, to decide today's dollar or tomorrow's treasure. It takes wisdom and courage, perhaps vision.

Thank you, gentlemen.

STATEMENT OF SEYMOUR OSSOFSKY, CHAIRMAN OF THE SKI MOUNTAINEERS SECTION OF THE SIERRA CLUB

Mr. OssOFSKY. Gentlemen, I am Seymour Ossofsky. I am here to speak to you on why I oppose commercial ski development of the San Gorgonio Wilderness Area.

I speak as an avid skier with 20 years experience. For the last 10 of those years, I have been skiing virtually every weekend-and taking skiing vacations wherever I could find snow in this area or hundreds of miles away. I have skied from Maine to Alaska-and at most major resorts in this country.

I have ski toured in the Sierra Nevadas and the San Gorgonio Wilderness Area for years.

I also speak as the chairman of the ski mountaineers section of the Sierra Club chapter in this area. I have been an official of that organization in various capacities for 7 years. I am also a member of the Far West Ski Association. Thus, I speak as a person devoted to resort skiing as well as wilderness (cross-country) skiing.

Three key reasons why I oppose these bills.—

First, San Gorgonio is greatly overrated as a ski area.
Second, it cannot be overrated as a wilderness area.

Commercial skiing would spoil one of southern California's most important recreational areas in summer as well as in winter.

Third, San Gorgonio is irreplaceable as a wilderness area. But, it is easily replaceable as a proposed ski area.

Wind and snow-two reasons why San Gorgonio is greatly overrated as a ski area. Flying over San Gorgonio or viewing it from the car en route to Palm Springs, the area looks as if it were made for skiers. But, after 10 years of ski touring into that area, I have come to realize how deceiving San Gorgonio can be from a distance.

I have found that many times the upper slopes (10,000 feet) are so windblown that there are bare spots even though it looks like a solid sheet of snow from a distance. It is so windblown that the snow cover is thin-only a few inches. It is so windblown that the tops of many rocks jut through the snow cover. In short, the upper section of the proposed ski area is swept by high winds which blow much of the snow away.

It is not a sheltered bowl. It is literally wind blasted much of the time.

The lower elevations are protected from the wind. And, they do get more snow than most other local areas. But, they still do not get enough snow for regular, dependable skiing.

I have learned about this through experience. As a longstanding official of the Ski Mountaineers, I have had to reschedule or cancel many ski tours into that area because of lack of snow. It is simply not dependable.

The local ski-lift operators who use Yankee ingenuity and produced manmade snow for their areas have a far longer and more depend

able season than the San Gorgonio area. Maybe we need more Yankee ingenuity in southern California.

San Gorgonio is overrated as a ski area in another important respect-its convenience to Los Angeles. I have timed the drive from the end of the road at Poopout Hill to my home in Los Angeles, near La Brea and Rodeo Boulevard-many times. It takes approximately 3 hours on a Sunday evening during the winter desert resort season. Unfortunately, the winter desert resort and skiing seasons conflict. The traffic is bumper to bumper now on the San Bernardino Freeway during that period. Think what it would be with added ski traffic.

But in contrast, it will only be 4 or 5 hours' drive to projected ski resorts in the Sierra Nevadas such as Mineral King and Robinson Basin. Both offer far better skiing than San Gorgonio; and Mineral King is even now being bid upon for development in the very near future.

Overrated as a ski area, but cannot be overrated in its importance to southern California as a wilderness area. For literally thousands of summer-winter hikers, strollers, campers, ski tourers, people who just want to get away from it all San Gorgonio is the only place of its type in southern California. This is particularly true in the summer, and I think it is important to remember that San Gorgonio is more than just a winter recreational area.

When I think of putting in a ski resort which uses up Slusky Meadows and Dry Lake, I think of a playground with a railroad switching yard in the middle of it.

That playground analogy is more accurate than one may suspect. Thousands of children use the San Gorgonio area every year as an opportunity to get away from it all into the wilderness with their parents, church groups, youth organizations, et cetera. It is hard for a child to think he is truly roughing it in the wilderness when parking lots, buildings, and trams are nearby. The plain fact is that Slushy Meadows and Dry Lake are two of the major sources of running water in the San Gorgonio area; favored camping places for thousands, summer and winter.

We need San Gorgonio as a wilderness area; we do not need it as a ski area. It is that simple. San Gorgonio as a wilderness area cannot be replaced. And, it will not be a wilderness area if commercial enterprises intrude. There are no gray areas here. And, the facts are, there are other alternatives; in the Sierra, and locally. Even more important, San Gorgonio is vastly overrated as a ski area.

Why give up a first-rate wilderness area enjoyed by thousands the year round for a second-rate ski area, sought mainly by people who have other ski areas available now, with more coming in the future. Thank you very much, gentlemen.

STATEMENT OF PAUL R. COOLEY, INDIVIDUAL, LOS ANGELES,

CALIF.

Mr. COOLEY. Gentlemen, as an experienced mountaineer and as a concerned native of southern California, I strongly protest the proposed invasion of the San Gorgonio Wilderness Area for development for family winter recreation.

I believe the following points are pertinent:

1. San Gorgonio, as the only remaining undeveloped high mountain area in southern California, affords a unique opportunity for escape

from mechanized civilization. Because of its proximity to metropolitan areas, its general accessibility, and its unique character, the wilderness area is heavily used in both winter and summer by groups composed of people of all ages and experience levels.

2. The proposed development in the Dry Lake Basin would emasculate the wilderness area. While the addition of the Whitewater River drainage would be welcome, it would in no way compensate for the development and loss of the Dry Lake Basin.

Because I have made several dozen trips to the area, and have climbed to the top of San Gorgonio Mountain four times from diverse directions, I can personally vouch for the accuracy of the above state

ments.

I believe I can speak not only for my family and myself, but also for the 30 or 40 people with whom I have climbed in the area whose names do not appear on the witness list.

Thank you, gentlemen.

STATEMENT OF MRS. VIRGINIA H. FIRTH, INDIVIDUAL, SAN

BERNARDINO, CALIF.

Mrs. FIRTH. Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, my name is Virginia H. Firth.

My point of view is that of an officeworker who by the end of the week is wound up and weary of being confined within four walls where the telephone, typewriter, and other office machines create a constant background of mechanical sounds.

So, it is real physical and emotional need to get out of doors and far away from the necessities of civilization, to go where there are no cars, no buildings, no manmade things to get in the way of the natural beauty of the wilderness.

In hiking these trails where all others are also on foot, there is a healing of the spirit and a toning up of the body.

It is a getting back to Mother Nature, to the primary source with its untouched streams, meadows, trees, and heights.

This primitive area is needed more than ever as our world daily becomes more mechanized.

This is not a place to put in roads so that crowds of cars and masses of people can rush in and despoil this beautiful area. This place should be held in trust for the next generation to enjoy even as thousands of us now do each year.

Thank you.

STATEMENT OF DOROTHY TRAVER, INDIVIDUAL, SAN

BERNARDINO, CALIF.

Miss TRAVER. It is vital to keep San Gorgonio as a natural area without a ski lift. I have spent vacations in the mountains in San Bernardino County since I was a child.

We used to camp in Big Bear, Little Bear, and Forest Home. Now, as county librarian, I go to mountain communities where there are library branches and bookmobile stops. The country surrounding San Gorgonio is almost the only part of the mountains which has not become an extension of the metropolitan area.

I still go to Barton Flats and Seven Oaks where families and boys and girls attending camps enjoy birds, animals, wild flowers, and mountain streams and lakes. Children attending camp often hike up San Gorgonio, an experience never forgotten.

I do not see how there could be a ski lift with an access road without ruining the natural beauty which people now enjoy.

Publicity about opening up San Gorgonio to more people ignores the fact that more than 50,000 people use it each year now, and that many of them are children from low-income families who have no other chance to enjoy a wilderness area.

President Johnson has asked that the Wilderness System be enlarged.

We need to keep the wilderness area in San Gorgonio as it is. If it is destroyed, there will be nothing in southern California to replace it. Thank you very much, gentlemen.

STATEMENT OF MRS. F. A. PETERS, EXECUTIVE BOARD, BEAUMONT WOMAN'S CLUB

Mrs. PETERS. Mr. Chairman and members of the Public Lands Subcommittee, my name is Mrs. F. A. Peters.

As dean of chairman and member of the executive board, I was asked to represent the Beaumont Woman's Club at the hearings today. Our position is to oppose the various House bills which would remove any part of the San Gorgonio Wilderness Area for the purpose of commercial recreational development.

In March of 1964, the Committee on Conservation of the Beaumont Woman's Club, initiated a resolution, which, following approval locally, was submitted to the De Anza District of 28 Women's Clubs in the county of Riverside.

Favorable action was taken on this resolution at the De Anza District of Women's Clubs convention, April 21, 1964.

The resolution reads as follows:

Whereas, our rapidly growing Southern California population requires wildlands to escape the pressures of civilization, more than it needs additional recreational developments; and,

Whereas, the San Gorgonio Wilderness Area is one of the few sizable remaining wilderness areas in Southern California, and is one of the most heavily used such area in the United States; and,

Whereas, Ski promoters are seeking the exclusion of the heart of the San Gorgonio Wilderness Area from those lands covered by the wilderness Bill now before Congress : Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the De Anza District, No. 23, California Federation of Women's Clubs opposes the removal of any lands from the San Gorgonio Wilderness Area for the purpose of ski or other developments.

At a meeting of the executive board of the Beaumont Woman's Club, November 1, 1965, our previous stand in the matter of this resolution was unanimously confirmed by members of the current executive board.

An extensive program of study and education is carried on by our Federated Women's Clubs at the local, State, and national level to assure if possible, the wisest use of our country's natural resources. In Riverside County each year, women's clubs, individually, and through the De Anza district, collectively, contribute materially to support such conservation projects as "Penny Pines Plantations."

Through such programs, we try to insure the continuance of existing wildlife and recreational resources locally, also the preservation of southern California's valuable watersheds.

Reasons for opposing commercialization of a portion of the San Gorgonio Wilderness Area as advanced by our members were many and varied, but in general it was felt that many intangible values as well as physical benefits might be adversely affected, particularly for young people in southern California, now and in the future.

As one member so aptly remarked, "It is easy to pluck a flower, but did you ever try to put it back?"

I might also add at this time, this resolution was renewed at the De Anza district, CFWC meeting held Monday, November 15, 1965, in Palm Springs, Calif.

Thank you for this opportunity.

STATEMENT OF VINCENT X. FLAHERTY, FORMER SPORTS WRITER, LOS ANGELES, CALIF.

Mr. FLAHERTY. Gentlemen, please insert the enclosed newspaper stories as part of your official record of the current hearings. I would request they be made a part of the file.

1. Series of articles, published, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, August 1965.

2. Series of articles on San Gorgonio published in San Bernardino Sun-Telegram, July 1965.

As a former sportswriter of many years experience, and having been close to and part of outdoor sports throughout that time, I believe these stories are a faithful presentation of facts.

This is to verify they were written by the undersigned and published in the above-mentioned newspapers.

Also, in behalf of George R. Hearst, Jr., I am enclosing an editorial published November 4, 1965, in the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, of which Mr. Hearst is publisher.

Also, an editorial initialed by Norman Chandler, president of the Los Angeles Times Co. and published in the newspaper August 13, 1964.

Í am enclosing these two editorials particularly because the abovenamed gentlemen are leading conservationists of California. Thank you, gentlemen.

STATEMENT OF WALTER P. PARKS, RIVERSIDE, CALIF.

Mr. PARKS. Gentlemen, I have with me a statement signed by the leading public school educators of the city of Riverside, a community of 130,000 people, located 40 miles from the San Gorgonio area.

The 38 signatories include the superintendent of schools, members of his administrative staff, and the principals of the various elementary, junior, and senior high schools of the district.

I would submit the statement for the file at this time.

These men and women who specialize in dealing with the problems of boys and girls believe that the wilderness experience available in San Gorgonio is extremely important to the young people of southern California. There are in the general southern California area a large number of highly developed recreational and entertainment facilities.

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