I would like to respond to Edith Heyward's letter, "Solace comes in knowing it is there," of Nov. 6, and add my "yes, way to go" support. The Wyoming congressional delegation has the opportunity to break the deadlock on Wyoming wilderness by introducing a bill to add the Rock Creek area of the Bighorn National Forest (BFN) to our wilderness system.
The Forest Service has already recommended this area for wilderness designation saying, "The area's remote setting of pristine lodge pole pine forests, canyons, rock outcrops and rock spires, drained by snowmelt streams is not well-represented in the Wyoming wilderness system" (2005 BNF Resource Management Plan).
This summer I had the opportunity to backpack across these 34,000 acres just north of Buffalo. I saw the towering rocks, viewed the expansive vistas, and came face to face with an elk when I crawled out of my sleeping bag at 5 a.m.
The area is uniquely suited for wilderness designation: it is easily accessible for hikers, hunters, fisherman, or horseback riders. It is already roadless and wild and does not "have strategic or economic mineral potential" (BNF Management Plan).
Less than 4.9 percent of the United States is protected as wilderness. Think of it. Most children in the United States will never have a chance to see what the land was like when Lewis and Clark explored it.
Here in Wyoming we still have some wild places left, and it is time we recognized: "It is our responsibility to see that what we enjoy today will remain for future generations" (Jack Horton, Wyoming rancher and former assistant secretary of Interior under Nixon and Ford).
Emily Nelson
Sheridan
