ABSTRACT
We have more than three million acres of wilderness, a larger amount than any state except Alaska. Hundreds of thousands of acres under review by the Bureau of Land Management may end in the wilderness fold. The basic question we face is whether we should have zero addition to wilderness of Idaho as suggested by the mining industry. The chapter describes some concerns. The first involves trail construction and maintenance in wilderness areas, or rather a lack thereof. Another serious concern of the outfitters involves Forest Service regulations, or interpretation of the Wilderness Act, that prohibit leaving equipment at outfitter campsites used in the same place year after year. There is also a rather widespread impression, or there was in the past at least, that the Forest Service was purposely overzealous and over-restrictive in administering the Wilderness Act.
