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<br />I <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />Mr. Stapleton: Then to be consistent, why don't we exclude all that? <br /> <br />Mr. Sparks: That is all in private <br />developed area at the present time. <br />national forest land and no private <br /> <br />ownership. It <br />This is not. <br />development is <br /> <br />is a pretty heavily <br />This is all <br />in there whatsoever. <br /> <br />Mr. Burr: There is one little area, one private leased resort in the <br />forest. <br /> <br />Mr. Sparks: It is leased. It is still public land. <br /> <br />Mr. Stapleton: Did you have a comment on my last question, Mr. <br />Brannan? <br /> <br />Mr. Brannan: Yes, sir. I think it has skipped Mr. Sparks' mind that <br />there are two privately owned pieces of land in there and it has been <br />used under a Forest Service permit as a grazing area for a substan- <br />tial period of time. I would readily admit that the density of <br />public use of the Meadows area is not as great as up on the areas to <br />which you pointed, Mr. Chairman. But there is a considerable use in <br />there and has been for along period of time. Many of you have been <br />hunting and fishing in that area yourselves. <br /> <br />But I think the more important point to note about that is that that <br />yellow projection in there which you call a thumb, or. whatever you <br />like to identify as the Meadows, follows the escarpment of the Flat <br />Tops and that projection, the line of that projection, is that it <br />goes along the edge of the escarpment. And that yellow area is at <br />least a thousand feet at the southern end, a thousand feet below the <br />top of the escarpment. That is why I said a moment ago, a reservoir <br />in there would enhance the beauty of that area many, many fold <br />because it would bring a lake right up to these precipices, escarp- <br />ments, that really are the boundaries and the definition of the Flat <br />Tops area. Why do we call it the Flat Tops area? Because it is <br />geologically somehow volcanically I am told, and rises above the <br />surrounding terrain by as much as a thousand feet. That is why you <br />call it the Flat Tops and that is why the boundaries take the <br />irregular points that they did. They are following the escarpment <br />of the initial Flat Tops area. They make geographic and geological <br />sense, those boundaries. <br /> <br />Mr. Stapleton: <br />ommendation of <br />Is that right? <br /> <br />Let me ask Mr. Sparks. Why, as I take it, the rec- <br />the staff is that the Wilderness area corne in there? <br /> <br />Mr. Sparks: That is correct. <br /> <br />-17- <br />