Steven Holt: “Mr. Chairman, I have here a map of the area of the wilderness study area and it shows the areas that were permitted for…”

“Mr. Chairman, I have here a map of the area of the wilderness study area and it shows the areas that were permitted for off-road vehicle use in March. They go right smack through the middle of the wilderness study area. There are four routes. They essentially bisect and hit some of the most scenic and, I believe, fragile parts of that area. Let me just point out that that is right smack in the middle of this wilderness study area. I have photographs here of the damage that is being done by these off-road vehicles in the wilderness study area. I mean, these photographs are in the wilderness study area. And it is exactly that that my amendment is intended to protect. If wilderness study area is going to mean anything, we have to protect it from the most damaging environmental effect; and, at least today, that is the most damaging force on the wilderness study areas. So to say this only codifies what has already been approved underscores exactly what I am talking about. If we do not pass my amendment, if we do not defeat the Boehlert amendment, we will, in fact, suffer the kind of damage that my colleague, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Inslee), was referring to earlier that will leave the place much diminished by the time those millions of Americans accept the invitation of my colleague to come from all over the United States and visit.”