increasing altitude and for an examination of the adaptations of many forms, such as certain birds to high altitude environments.

These phenomena persist and can be studied on San Gorgonio because the area is undisturbed. The introduction of large numbers of people, and roadways can alter some of the established interrelationships among plants, animals and the environment and render them less useful for study.

RESEARCH POTENTIAL

Undisturbed areas that are close to major educational centers offer important opportunities for research that frequently cannot be duplicated elsewhere. San Gorgonio is such an area.

The large, old Jeffery and Ponderosa Pine trees found on San Gorgonio are excellent material for studies of longevity and of the aging process. What are the processes that permit these trees to attain hundreds of years of age? Might such studies provide clues for studies of aging in other organisms?

These same trees, under the undisturbed conditions of this area hybridize to form a Jeffery-Ponderosa Pine complex. Is this an instance of the evolution of a new species by hybridization? Are these hybrids better adapted, or more viable at the altitudes at which they are found than either of the parental stocks? To date, we simply do not know the answers to these questions.

What is the long-term history of undisturbed forests, such as some of the stands now found in San Gorgonio? Forests that are altered as by fire, climatic change or some other disturbance undergo a series of successional changes until a so-called climatic climax is reached. What then? What is the nature of a mature, climax forest on a western mountain slope? What rate of tree reproduction occurs? What new species of plant or animal reside in such a forest, in contrast to younger, or harvested forests. Long-term studies of the characteristics of species composition, growth rate and reproduction rate can yield information of practical importance in the management of our western forests. I urge that the San Gorgonio Wilderness Area be viewed as a national scientific resource, and that it be maintained in as undisturbed a state as possible so that as yet undiscovered facts of nature can be learned for the benefit of all mankind.

STATEMENT OF MABELLE C. REEDER, PASADENA, CALIF.

I regret that I will be unable to testify personally at the Hearing November 16-17, but respectfully request that this statement be added to the record of the Hearing:

I am opposed to commercial developments in the San Gorgonio Wilderness Area for the following reasons:

1. Violation of the principles of the Wilderness Act of 1964.

2. Taxpayers would have to assume costs of roads and utilities.

3. Taxpayers would have to pay for use of land which is properly theirs for the profiteering of private developers.

4. Alternate ski areas are available outside of the Wilderness Area, many of them with better snow conditions than in Dry Lake Basin.

5. U.S.F.S. policy has stated that San Gorgonio Wilderness should be preserved intact a statement as true today as it was thirty years ago or more. 6. Commercial development would be disastrous to the Santa Ana watershed and to the animals and plants unique to this area.

7. Bill 6891 does not indicate what "family winter recreation" really is and does not hold the developer responsible in any way for costs of construction, maintenance and operation. It does not make provisions for routing utilities in and out of area. It does not make provision for failure of operation as in the San Jacinto Tramway.

8. Bills 6891 et al. provide replacement of land for area taken at Dry Lake. This acre-for-acre promise is misleading. There is nothing in proposed addition which can compare to the beauty and natural resource of the Dry Lake Basin. Mr. Dyal and the other five Congressmen advocating the "family winter recreation" under the conditions in Bills 6891 et al. should be questioned as to their motives and possible gains. These Bills are not in keeping with the Wilderness Act of 1964, an Act passed by large majorities in both House and Senate.

STATEMENT SUBMITTED BY ROBBIN SCHELLHOUS, LONG BEACH AREA COUNCIL, BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA, CHIEF TRIBE OF TAHQUITZ, 1964-65

This testimony is presented on behalf of the Tribe of Tahquitz, an honorary camping organization of the Long Beach Area Council, Boy Scouts of America. The Tribe of Tahquitz was organized in 1925 at Camp Tahquitz in Idyllwild, California, with the purpose of promoting Scout camping through service and example. Its primary service to the Long Beach Council since 1925 has been to provide personnel qualified to serve on the Summer Camp Staff for Camp Tahquitz. When Camp Tahquitz moved from Idyllwild to Barton Flats in 1959, the Tribe of Tahquitz became vitally interested in the San Gorgonio Wilderness Area. Camp Tahquitz is located on the northern edge of the Wilderness Area, immediately north of San Bernardino Peak.

My qualifications for speaking on behalf of the Tribe of Tahquitz include four years of Camp Staff experience. For the past three years I have been an officer for the Tribe of Tahquitz. Last summer, as Chief of the Tribe, I was in charge of the entire Camp Staff and director of the overall summer camp backcountry, or overnight pack trip, program. Thus, this testimony reflects the views of the Tribe of Tahquitz, and more specifically, the view of the members of the Camp Staff of Camp Tahquitz.

The heart of the entire program of the Boy Scouts of America is based on camping and outdoor living. Therefore, one of the most essential elements of the summer program of Camp Tahquitz is the backcountry program. Backcountry camping gives boys a chance to put into practice the many skills of cooking, first aid, stalking, pioneering, nature lore, and wilderness survival which characterize all Boy Scout advancement requirements. Most all skills related to camping can be practiced at the city park or even in your own backyard; but true camping can only be experienced when the spirit of camping is present. It is the wilderness which provides this intangible spirit of camping. It is only in the wilderness where boys can enjoy the thrill of being alone with the equipment they can carry on their backs and the knowledge they can carry in their heads. If the element of civilization is added to the wilderness, the spirit of camping is lost.

Use of the San Gorgonio Wilderness Area varies with each individual troop which comes to Camp Tahquitz. Throughout the summers until 1963, troops from Camp Tahquitz made extensive use of the Slushy Meadows-Dollar Lake area for their backcountry experience. Some troops made day hikes to Slushy Meadows or Dollar Lake, while other troops spent as many as four days in the back-country. For many of these eleven, twelve, and thirteen-year-old boys, it marked their first visit to a real wilderness. Most troops, however, hiked from Camp Tahquitz to Slushy Meadows or Dollar Lake, spent the night, and returned to camp the following afternoon. Many of the older boys climbed Mt. San Gorgonio as part of their experience.

Beginning in 1964, several factors forced a shift in the use of the Wilderness Area from the Slushy Meadows-Dollar Lake to the Dry Lake-Fish Creek area. Slushy Meadows was too overcrowded. Troops often hiked for hours only to find the Meadows crammed with two and three hundred other people. Dollar Lake was running out of firewood. Sanitary facilities were no longer very sanitary. Trails were showing signs of erosion from use and overuse and misuse. Trash and litter were accumulating at an alarming rate. In general, boys were no longer able to enjoy the spirit of camping, that intangible element without which true camping is impossible.

In an effort to relieve the overcrowded conditions of the Slushy MeadowsDollar Lake area, and at the same time to restore the spirit of camping to the backcountry program, troops from Camp Tahquitz began to use the Dry LakeFish Creek area. As this area became more familiar to the Camp Staff backcountry guides, it rapidly gained popularity among the troops. This relatively little-used area was uncrowded, there was enough firewood, and it was uncluttered with trash. It was tremendously appealing because it was still in a virtual natural state, untouched by civilization. Use of this area restored the spirit of camping to our backcountry program. We emphasized this area almost exclusively in 1965 and of necessity expect to continue doing so in 1966. Furthermore, we fully expect other youth camps in the area to follow suit.

Therefore, based on our extensive use of the Dry Lake-Fish Creek area and the expected use by other groups in the future, we are strongly opposed to ANY development in this area which will alter the present condition of the wilder

ness. "Family winter recreation" areas such as ski lifts will remove the spirit of camping so essential to any camping program by introducing the element of civilization to the wilderness. If this spirit of camping is removed from camping in the wilderness, we may as well stay home and camp in our backyards.

The elements of civilization will be visible in the form of roads and fallen trees. But elements not so obvious and often overlooked will include power lines, pipe lines, and access roads cut to lay those lines. Also not so obvious an element of civilization is the ultimate pollution of water resources by the huge network of sanitary facilities which will be necessary if the "winter recreation areas" are to provide for any great number of people.

Further, we feel that if such development were allowed, and then operated only in the winter months, the very presence of any forms of civilization would still remove the spirit of camping during the summer months.

Thus, the members of the Camp Staff of Camp Tahquitz, having provided the backcountry guides for Camp Tahquitz for the past forty years, are strongly in favor of maintaining the San Gorgonio Wilderness Area in its present state, untouched by the marks of civilization.

STATEMENT OF RICHARD L. BOWER, PLEASANT HILL, CALIF.

The San Gorgonio Wilderness area was established by the U.S. Forest Service after extensive study and exhaustive public hearings, and has been formally declared a national preserve by Congress' enactment of the Wilderness Act of September 3, 1964 (78 Stat. 890) (by a 373 to 1 vote). The declared national policy is to protect permanently in a natural condition a small part of beautiful America.

I know the subject area from personal experience. This unit of the Wilderness System is indeed magnificent. Its present size and boundaries are logical. I have studied the proposed legislation.

The earlier findings upon which the present land use designation was made, remain valid. A year-around untrammeled forested mountain wilderness, close to a great metropolitan center, is unique and precious. Good road access is provided to the area. Dozens of youth and adult outdoor camps are situated on immediately adjacent land. Visitorship continues to increase in each season including winter.

In this proposition to modify signally the present boundaries I foresee a very extensive resort development which would have an adverse effect upon the whole area. To grant a variance from the present land use zoning would upset the present balanced concept. Excising the scenic heartland would contract essential values. Erecting a building complex, parking lots, and elaborate lift systems would destroy utterly the wilderness character of the immediate and surrounding land, right in the middle of the dedicated area.

There are skiers who appreciate the snow and icicle festooned pine and fir trees of the winter wonderland. And there are downhill skiers who whoosh down the slopes without regarding the natural beauty. For many, the cocktail lounge at the resort lodge provides the principal attraction. And too, there is the lazy sightseer tourist who seeks recreation without perspiration by buying a tram ride to a grand view point unearned through physical effort. Some aspects of the following parable may apply to this situation. "Once upon a time there was a mountain peak with a wonderful view. People came from miles around to stand on top of the mountain and look out. The village at the foot of the mountain charged each tourist one dollar per head for the privilege and prospered thereby, but so few people could stand on the mountain top at one time, it was decided by the villagers that the only answer was to level off the mountain top to provide more room and increase the "take". This seemed to work so well that each year more of the mountain was leveled off until it could accommodate 10,000 people at a time. By this time the mountain was only 40 feet high and suddenly everybody stopped coming to see the view.

"Convinced that people were tired of views, the villagers, in the name of progress and a tourist economy, converted the flattened mountain top to a huge carnival ground and every night one could see the lights and hear the music all over the valley. They still attracted customers, but it was the kind of people who liked carnivals and not the kind of people who liked beauty."

When you analyze these many American mountain development promotions carefully, you will see that the early profit makers are the steel company, the financiers, the "financial feasibility" report-makers, the attorneys and the engineers. And can see that the steel cable suppliers stands to gain a new permanent account. Business logic calls for an early secret alliance.

The apparent promoters-ski resort operators (seeking a monopoly franchise), downhill skiers, real estate men, and other immediate area businessmen-are only the inspired front for the real promoters. In the present case, as most, you can fill in the firm and the individual names.

It is well documented that most (but not all) ski resorts are marginal operations financially. Government is now being manipulated toward financial investment in ski resorts, through direct aid, through low interest loans of (tax) public monies, or through allowing use of the tax-exempt bond issuance privilege. A strictly business venture should be able to face normal business risks without subsidization by taxpayers early or late, directly or indirectly. If only the promoters would confine themselves to planning projects with private investment on private land, or public land where there was no abridgement of the existing land use zoning, then there would be no disapproval. I suggest that these aggressive commercial interests stop consuming everyone's time and mind there own business by paying closer attention to the customary financial investment problems at Mt. Baldy Ski Lifts, etc., and show less zeal for attempting yet another business venture on Mt. San Gorgonio.

The Southern California downhill skier already has dozens of ski resorts to choose from, and is guaranteed snow for an extended season by snowmaker installations. The very large scale ski development at Mt. Pinos, and at Mineral King, will provide amply for skier future needs.

Therefore, please may I recommend that the national policy of wilderness protection be upheld by early rejection of this unmerited promotion.

STATEMENT OF INGOLF DAHL, LOS ANGELES, CALIF.

This is a statement in behalf of the preservation of the San Gorgonio Wilderness Area in its present unspoiled state.

I would like to point out to you that I am a skier myself and I and my friends have skied on San Gorgonio for many years and do so now. It is the unspoiled wilderness aspect of this beautiful area which makes the winter outdoors experience such a unique one there. We have plenty of developed ski areas in Southern California and there are other possibilities for ski development within reasonable distance (such as Mineral King, for instance), so that it is not necessary to ruin the only, and the most scenic, Wild Area within the neighborhood of this huge metropolitan settlement. I say "ruin" advisedly, because the existing ski developments in Southern California have all taken on a distasteful honky-tonk aspect, and anyone who has seen the destruction of scenic values at such a place as Mammoth Mt. in California through ski lifts and "clearing op erations" will realize that wilderness values are not compatible with commerical lift developments.

I would like to request that this statement be made part of the record of the San Bernardino field hearings on H.R. 6891 and related bills.

STATEMENT OF MR. AND MRS. LEON ADELMAN, SAN DIEGO, CALIF.

We are unalterably opposed to commercial development in a Wilderness Area, particularly the San Gorgonio Wilderness Area for the following reasons:

(1) The passage of the above bills would set the dangerous precedent of breaking up other areas set aside by the Wilderness Act of 1964.

(2) An overwhelming majority of California Congressmen voted four to one in favor of the Wilderness Bill of 1964 which established San Gorgonio as a primitive area.

(3) Since 1931, when San Gorgonio was first established as a primitive area, the Forest Service has gone on record favoring retention of the San Gorgonio Area. Moreover, the California Legislature has repeatedly rejected amendments for commercial development.

(4) The land to the East and South offered as a replacement area is inferior and unsuitable for Wilderness Recreation use.

(5) Finally and of the most urgent importance to us and many thousands of individual citizens: The approval of the above bills would violate and destroy the most heavily used Wilderness Area in the country, as well as the only remaining area of its kind in Southern California.

The benefits of a Wilderness Area to the good physical and mental well being of the people of this State cannot be measured. Please save San Gorgonio.

STATEMENT OF F. RUSSELL WADE, FILLMORE, CALIF.

It is requested that the following statement be incorporated in the record of the Mt. San Gorgonio Wilderness hearing to be held November 16-17, in San Bernardino, California.

Over the past 35 years, I have walked more than 5,000 miles on the wilderness, National forest and National Park trails of the United States and Canada, from the Adirondacks to the Southwest. Much of this hiking has been in the San Gabriel, San Bernardino and San Jacinto Mountains of Southern California. I have back packed and camped on both the north and southsides of Mt. San Gorgonio. The area probably qualifies as the best wilderness area adjacent to the Southern California metropolitan complex in scenic value. As far as wild or primitive value, the northside of Mt. San Gorgonio is the most accessible and most frequently used of the Southern California areas.

The question that must be resolved is whether or not the benefits to be derived by opening the northside of Mt. San Gorgonio to skiers in the winter, more than offset the detriment to the wilderness caused by an unsightly road scar and parking area, ski lift towers, and facilities which will be visible to hikers in the summer.

Nine times out of ten I will be counted on the side of the wilderness people, the National Park Association, the Sierra Club and other groups opposing the opening of the few remaining wild areas in the country. But cognizance must be taken of the total picture; the aesthetic value lost should be weighed against the recreational value gained. How do you weigh three or four thousand hikers a year against three or four hundred thousand skiers? How deeply affected are the aesthetic sensibilities of the hikers? If given a choice, how many would rather drive to the end of the ski road and then hike to Dry Lake, or Dollar Lake, or the top of San Gorgonio? How deeply affected are the sensibilities of the conservationists and conservation society members, most of whom have never seen San Gorgonio and will never see San Gorgonio?

Does the withdrawal of 3,500 acres at Mt. San Gorgonio spell the beginning of the end for the principle of wilderness preservation? I do not think so, but believe that opening San Gorgonio to skiing represents sensible management of the Nation's recreational resources. I urge that Mt. San Gorgonio be opened for skiing development.

My reasons are simple-we are weighing the aesthetic merit of a second rate Furthermore, wilderness against the recreational value of a first rate ski area.

the people of Southern California are blessed with one of the greatest wilderness recreation areas in the United States, in the Southern Sierra Nevada mountains, whereas good skiing conditions are very scarce and costly to reach for weekend skiers in Southern California.

STATEMENT OF HOWARD K. KLEBSCH, UPLAND, CALIF.

This statement in behalf of maintaining the San Gorgonio Wilderness area in its present natural state and prohibiting any commercial encroachment within its boundaries, is submitted to the Committee at the public hearings held in San Bernardino Nov. 16 and 17. I am hopeful that this may be made a part of the hearing record.

I am writing as a private citizen, am a graduate engineer and a faculty member at an engineering college. I am also an ardent skier, and am aware that a very respectable portion of Southern California pleasure skiers are aware of the wilderness values of San Gorgonio and share my belief that it can best