31 



Before I recognize Mr. Pombo, let me say on behalf of the sub- 

 committee, we would like to request that the administration, Mr, 

 Leonard, furnish to the committee, in writing, a position on the bill 

 and the possible alternatives particularly clarifying, from the ad- 

 ministration's point of view, why this piece of legislation would be 

 helpful and important, or vice-versa. 



Could you agree to do that for the subcommittee? 



Mr. Leonard. Yes, we will. 



Mr. Bishop. Thank you. At the earliest practicable time, please. 



Mr. Leonard. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Bishop. I recognize Mr. Pombo. 



Mr. Pombo. Thank you. I would like to return for just a minute 

 to the area of costs, and in yesterday's Natural Resources Commit- 

 tee hearing, it was said that it would cost approximately $500 mil- 

 lion to buy, I believe it was the 4,468 acres. 



Mr. Leonard. That is correct. 



Mr, Pombo. And you also indicated that the recent price of red- 

 wood has increased approximately 15 percent since the appraisal? 



Mr. Leonard. That is correct. 



Mr. Pombo. So it would be 15 percent above the $500 million just 

 to buy the 4,400 acres? 



Mr. Leonard. Based on the appraised value, yes. 



Mr. Pombo. So we are talking then about $575 million to pur- 

 chase 10 percent of the property that is included in this? 



Mr. Leonard. That is correct. But it should be understood that 

 that 10 percent is the old-growth timber and therefore represents 

 a very substantial part of the total value of that 44,000 acres. 



Mr. Pombo. Do you have an indication as to what percent of the 

 value it is? 



Mr. Leonard. No, we have not had access to the other land, so 

 we don't know for sure what — we know the general character — ^you 

 can go out and look at the countryside — ^but we don't have an esti- 

 mate of the volume involved nor the other factors that would go 

 into the appraisal. We haven't had access to the other area. 



Mr. Pombo. So you can't — at this point, you can't give any indica- 

 tion if it would be twice as much or three times as much? 



Mr. Leonard. It wouldn't — if we were to make a guess, it would 

 be that; and it wouldn't be worth much more than just a guess. 



Mr. Pombo. It was also mentioned that this is considered prime 

 habitat for an endangered species? 



Mr. Leonard. Yes. 



Mr. Pombo. The private land, under current law or under the 

 way that ESA is being implemented today, are activities restricted 

 in terms of cutting of the old-growth forest currently? 



Mr. Detrich. Yes, to some degree. We have been working with 

 the company on timber harvest plans on the smaller old-growth 

 tracts, and that would result in some restriction of harvest in those 

 areas. 



Mr. Pombo. It is my understanding of the way that the ESA is 

 being implemented in the forest areas that there are a lot of re- 

 strictions in terms of what they can cut and how much they can 

 cut and the way that they can cut, because of the endangered spe- 

 cies. 



