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ber Company lands. The Headwaters Forest is pristine old-growth 

 redwood and contains the majority of the birds in one of the three 

 remaining populations of marbled murrelets in California. 



Our main concern with H.R. 2866 is the cost of acquisition. An 

 estimate of the cost of the acquisition for the approximately 4,500- 

 acre Headwaters Forest, including the value of the standing tim- 

 ber, is approximately $500 million. No appraisal has been con- 

 ducted yet on the total 44,000-acre area identified for potential pur- 

 chase and addition to the Six Rivers National Forest in this legisla- 

 tion. The bill provides for the development of a comprehensive 

 management plan within 1 year of enactment. 



Mr. Chairman, this time is simply too short. Development of 

 such a plan would require that we conduct resource inventories, 

 public involvement, and consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wild- 

 life Service concerning threatened and endangered species. Accom- 

 plishing these tasks would take a minimum of 3 years. 



Mr. Chairman, the forestlands in question would be a worthy ad- 

 dition to the National Forest System. The Department of Agri- 

 culture supports the goals and objectives of H.R. 2866 and is inter- 

 ested in working with the Congress to find ways to meet these 

 goals. 



Mr. Chairman, that concludes my statement. I would be happy 

 to respond to any questions. 



[The prepared statement of Mr. Leonard appears at the conclu- 

 sion of the hearing,] 



Mr. Bishop [assuming chair]. Thank you very much. If you don't 

 mind, I would like for us to go ahead and complete the panel of 

 witnesses and then we will open it to questions. Maybe we can ex- 

 pedite, if that is OK with you. 



Mr. Leonard. It is certainly OK Mr. Chairman, the other wit- 

 nesses do not have statements. 



Mr. Bishop. Very good. If not, then I would like to open it to 

 questions. There are members of the subcommittee who would like 

 to ask questions or if some of the visiting Members would like to. 



Is there any Member who would like to? 



Mr. Hamburg. I will start off, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Bishop. All right, Mr. Hamburg. 



Mr. Hamburg. Good morning, Mr. Leonard. It is good to see you 

 again. 



Mr. Leonard. Good morning. 



Mr. Hamburg. First, I would like to ask you to comment on the 

 consistency of this bill with the recent FEMAT report in terms of 

 the concept of ecosystem management. 



Mr. Leonard. Mr. Hamburg, I believe that the bill as written is 

 fiiUy consistent with the FEMAT report and the management plan 

 that we could develop that would respond both to the bill and to 

 the FEMAT report that there would be no inconsistencies. 



Mr. Hamburg. And so you have an understanding of why rather 

 than look at isolated growths of redwoods, we are taking this kind 

 of an approach to the overall management of this land. 



Mr. Leonard. Yes. It is clear that if we are going to meet the 

 habitat needs of this particular population of marbled murrelet and 

 the other species that are associated with the old growth in that 

 area, we have to find a way to keep the forests from being further 



