The Forest Service’s RARE II wilderness area recommendations are in – but it may be quite awhile before Congress acts on them. In Utah, Gov. Scott Matheson doesn’t favor accepting Agriculture Bob Bergland’s recommendation for some 492,008 acreas for wilderness just yet. He wants to wait until the state’s wilderness committee recommends a “comprehensive wilderness package.” This would include not only Forest Service areas but lands desired for wildemess that are managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service. Meantime, the Forest Service is holding its recommendations for 45 days to allow congressmen and govemors to plrovide inpxut before presenting t em to resident Carter in February. He in turn will make a proposal to Congress. Bergland recommended 15 areas in Utah be designated wilderness. Another 118 areas are proposed for non-wildemess and six areas for additional stud . None of the recommended Utah wildemess areas is in the Uinta National Forest headquartered in Provo, but about 50,000 acreas are proposed for additional study in the Santaquin-Birdseye-Nephi areas of this forest. The BLM is now inventoryin its roadless and undevelopeg areas prior to wildemess recommendations. This agency manages RB86,004 acres or 43 percent of tl1e state compared to Forest Service’s 8 million acres representing 15 percent. The National Park Service has 1.96 million acres for 3 percent of Utah, and already has recommended to Congress that some 731,000 acres in seven national parks be labeled wilderness. Reaction to Forest Service recommendations have been “cautiously optimistic” from timber and energy industry people and critica by some environmentalists. Gov. Matheson has generalized that proposals “are within the realm of reasonableness.” But he, among others, will be making a deeper study before making commitments. Certainly Utahns must give close scrutiny to proposals and not sacrifice the multiple use concept where resources are vital to present and future needs – especially with so much of the state’s land area tied up by the federal govemment. Meantime, people can still offer input. A total of 4,206 responses were received by the Forest Service in Utah. That period is now closed, but people can still express their opinions to members of the congressional delegation and the governor. If you have a viewpoint, now’s the time to let it be known.