William M. Thomas: “That is the dialog we have had all along. The fact is they wrote the bill, it was in it and they were not going to let…”

“That is the dialog we have had all along. The fact is they wrote the bill, it was in it and they were not going to let it come out all along no matter what. It was the question of losing 1 square mile, not necessarily where it was, it was the loss of 1 square mile. Most of the discussions I have had with these folks is over bulk acreage. No one objected to certain sites which everyone agreed were appropriate wilderness areas. It is this mass grab for bulk acreage that is so difficult for someone like myself to understand who wants to preserve areas that clearly should be preserved. It just came home to me in trying to deal with 1 square mile. They would not give language which would allow it to occur.”