24 



From your vantage point, do you feel that it is feasible through 

 the years of these alternatives to actually accomplish that; the ac- 

 quisition of all or a portion consistent with the objectives of the 

 bill? 



Mr. Leonard. We certainly believe that it is well worth exploring 

 those other options. We do know, for example, that the Resolution 

 Trust Corporation has acquired some very valuable property which 

 would be very liquid and easy for Pacific Lumber Company to dis- 

 pose of if they were to acquire that. There are military bases being 

 closed that are — some of them with very high value in urban areas 

 which would be relatively liquid. 



Pacific Lumber Company has not expressed an interest in selling 

 land beyond the 4,500 acres, so we can't say that, yes, we could 

 make another deal of some sort. Nor can we say if we had the cash 

 that we could make the deal but the lands are very valuable. They 

 play an essential role in the recovery of the murrelet in northern 

 California, so I think having the opportunity to explore a range of 

 options and see if a deal could be struck is well worth the effort. 



Mr. Bishop. Thank you very much. At this time, Mr. Farr, did 

 you have some questions. 



Mr. Farr. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Just for a mo- 

 ment. 



I would like to respond to the inquiry on California public owner- 

 ship, just having been involved in that in the State legislature. A 

 great deal of California is in public ownership, but it is mostly the 

 Sierra-Nevadas and some areas in national forests in northern 

 California. 



But the bulk of where the population lives along the coast in 

 Central Valley, there is very little public ownership of land and 

 frankly the public ownership of land is now turning into private 

 lands because of base closures in California — 28,000 acres in my 

 district, the largest military base in the United States is being 

 closed. Ten percent of the population gone, all that is going to be 

 shifted into private sector and some public sector university. 



So I don't think you should get caught up on the fact that a per- 

 centage of when they have public lands, they also talk about public 

 ownership of roads and highways and we know a lot of California 

 is paved over with that ownership. 



Mr. Chairman, on the bill, this is a big battle in California and 

 one of the things that California prides itself on greatly is its old- 

 growth redwoods. It is sort of part of our State's heritage, some- 

 thing that we take pride in very well and very little of that old- 

 growth redwoods along the coast is in public ownership. And that 

 is what this legislation is all about. 



I think the issue really is the price that needs to be paid for the 

 lands and a discussion on that. I look forward to the author con- 

 tinuing with the legislation, I will be glad to answer any questions 

 you might have. 



Mr. Kingston. If the gentleman will jdeld, on the chart, the land 

 in red is publicly owned which looks like a lot. It looks like a lot 

 on the coastal area, and that is my concern in terms of what the 

 people of California's desire is along that. I spent my weekend in 

 Oke Swamp in Georgia which I think is 600,000 acres of publicly 

 held land. 



