14 



STATEMENT OF HON. DAN HAMBURG, A REPRESENTATIVE IN 

 CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 



Mr. Hamburg. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for convening this 

 hearing this morning on the Headwaters Forest Act. I want to 

 thank my colleague and coauthor. Congressman Pete Stark, for his 

 work on this bill and on this issue for the past several years. 



I am pleased to address you today about this bill, which is now 

 cosponsored by 90 Members of the House and is endorsed by the 

 Sierra Club, the Wilderness Society, the Audubon Society, 

 Greenpeace, the Western Ancient Forest Campaign, the National 

 Wildlife Federation and others. 



Few issues have galvanized the people of California's north coast 

 more than the protection of the Headwaters Forest. Indeed, this 

 forest has become a focal point statewide and even nationwide 

 among those who believe that the last remnants of the ancient red- 

 wood forests should be protected and preserved. 



Of the original 2 million acres of these trees on the Pacific coast, 

 only about 80,000 acres remain today. The Headwaters Forest Act 

 authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to initiate negotiation 

 which over time will result in the transfer of approximately 44,000 

 acres of redwood forest in Humboldt County from private to public 

 ownership. 



Eighty-eight percent of the land will be managed for multiple-use 

 including timbering operations. The groves of old growth, just over 

 5,000 acres, will be placed off limits for any logging operations. 

 This is the largest remaining unprotected virgin redwood forest in 

 the world. Standing 300 feet hign in these groves are some of the 

 most magnificent life forms in creation: Giant redwoods, many over 

 1,000 years old, which anchor a now rare and fragile ecosystem. 



Use of bulldozers to harvest old-growth trees make the old- 

 growth topsoils particularly vulnerable to erosion. Erosion threat- 

 ens the streams that begin and run through these forests. Located 

 in highly erosive geologic formations, any additional sedimentation 

 threatens the spawning ground of the anadromous fish that return 

 to these waters. 



I want to offer today for the record testimony from Dr. Peter 

 Moyle who is a professor of fisheries at the University of California 

 at Davis and the leading expert on coho salmon in CsJifomia. 



[The prepared statement of Mr. Moyle appears at the conclusion 

 of the hearing.] 



Mr. Hamburg. Dr. Moyle estimates that 5 to 10 percent of the 

 remaining wild coho salmon left in California spawn in watersheds 

 which will be protected by this act and characterizes one popu- 

 lation as exceptional by today's standards. 



The importance of his findings in light of the imminent petition 

 for listing of the coho in California cannot be overemphasized, I 

 would also Uke to draw attention to the declaration by Dr. Moyle 

 that his knowledge of coho in the Yager Creek drainage is limited 

 because the Pacific Lumber Company denied him access for data 

 collection. 



The Headwaters Forest Act calls for three of the most important 

 steps necessary to arrest the collapse of coho and rebuild their 

 stocks: Low impact logging; preservation of old-growth groves; and 

 protection of headwaters areas to preserve downstream habitat. 



