35 



Mr. Russell. I have a few words on the changes in the wood 

 supply and the only detail, all of us are familiar with how the For- 

 est Service has changed and there are new looks at forestry and 

 there are shortages. There are definite trends in the way the wood 

 is being used now. We still export a lot of high quality logs, as Joy 

 Belsky has said. The problem comes in with the small mills that 

 do not have much of a land base and they are looking at different 

 kinds of logs. They are interested in other logs that are cheaper, 

 so they do want to look at other lands and that is where this prob- 

 lem is coming from. 



Now, some of the problems in the log importation. And from a 

 purely biological view, the import of temperate zone logs and other 

 unmanufactured wood products to the United States is not in the 

 best interest for the health and protection of our forests. But if for 

 economic reasons logs are imported, the regulations must provide 

 for the highest level of pest prevention; and inspection alone will 

 not suffice. So we have to have a really good program if we are 

 going to bring logs in, as we heard this morning. 



So I would like to leave you with the following points, and maybe 

 a lot of us remember when we were kids getting boxes of 

 Tinkertoys for Christmas, I always did, and the logs should look 

 like those Tinkertoys. They should be clean when they come, and 

 I like to use the expression they should just look like Tinkertoys. 



Imported logs should not be processed in close proximity to suit- 

 able host forests. We have had a little discussion about that. Trans- 

 portation of logs after arrival often takes them in many directions, 

 almost too numerous to even keep track of. It is difficult. They 

 scatter like the wind. It amazed us when we saw how far they went 

 and this presents a high risk to the nearby forests. So we have a 

 big concern about that. 



We need better proven and safe substitutes for fumigating logs 

 before arrival at U.S. seaports. The recommended fumigation of 

 logs by methyl bromide is being phased out and there is too much 

 dependence placed on this material to reach deepwood pests. 



Mr. Rose. What is the difference between methyl bromide and 

 ethyl bromide? 



Mr. Russell. Methyl bromide is a long time proven fumigant 

 used in nursery industries, house fumigation, termites, insects. 



Mr. Rose. Is ethyl bromide, that is not used, is it? 



Mr. Russell. No, not ethyl. Methyl bromide, 



Mr. Rose. I got you. Go ahead. 



Mr. Russell. Although methyl bromide has been safely used for 

 years, there is not complete penetration of even medium-sized logs 

 approximately — and my statement says 8 inches and I want to 

 change that to 12 inches, because I just made an error there. It is 

 just a larger log and the methyl bromide does not always penetrate 

 all the way to the center of a large log. That is the problem. 



We are also not convinced that the recommended heat treatment 

 for killing pests deep within logs is sufficient for all insects and dis- 

 eases, and I would like to recommend a slightly higher tempera- 

 ture. I was not going to state how much higher, but above what 

 is stated in the EIS and something approaching 65 degrees C for 

 up to an hour or more. 



