Alan Simpson: “I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Leader McCarthy and Chairman Bishop for bringing H.R.…”

“I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Leader McCarthy and Chairman Bishop for bringing H.R. 1138 to the floor today, which we refer to as SNRA+. I also want to thank Ranking Member Grijalva of the full committee, Chairman McClintock of the subcommittee, and Ranking Member Tsongas of the subcommittee. In 2005, we had the first congressional hearing on the Boulder-White Clouds on what then was a bill called CIEDRA. CIEDRA was a complicated 60-page bill that tried to do a lot of things for a lot of different people. Today, we have a simplified 20-page bill we call SNRA+ that brings management certainty--and that is an important aspect--to the Boulder- White Clouds. It does this by making the determination about which parts of the current wilderness study area will in fact become wilderness and which parts will be released for multiple use. There will be three new wilderness areas totaling 275,665 acres: Hemmingway-Boulders Wilderness, with 67,998 acres; White Clouds Wilderness, with 90,769 acres; and in honor of the late Senator Jim McClure, we have the James A. McClure-Jerry Peak Wilderness, with 116,898 acres. The bill also releases wilderness study areas back to multiple use, totaling 153,883 acres. So this not only makes the determination of what is going to be wilderness, it releases the other wilderness study areas for multiple use. It is important to note in this bill that we do not close any motorized roads or trails in this bill.…”