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from parts of Canada where climatic and pest conditions are very similar to our own. 

 Therefore, there was no need for regulations governing the importation of wood from distant 

 countries where exotic forest pests of concern exist. 



However, in the late 1980's, several conq)lex environmental, economic and strategic 

 forces combined to reduce the amount of harvestable timber in this country, while at the 

 same time timber supplies worldwide rose. 



Siberia was one of the first of several regions to express an interest in supplying the 

 U.S. timber industry with raw wood. We agreed to allow log shipments in on a trial basis. 

 We worked closely with state officials from Oregon, Washington and California to evaluate 

 two test shipments of Siberian logs. Our inspection detected a number of pests in the 

 imtreated bark and wood that could have been harmful to oiu* forests. 



Concern over the pest risk associated with the test shipments prompted APHIS to 

 ask the Forest Service to conduct a detailed pest risk assessment on Siberian larch. 

 Scientific experts from a wide range of institutions and disciplines participated in the risk 

 assessment. The results of this assessment indicated that a high pest risk was linked with the 

 imregulated importation of raw Siberian larch logs. 



Shortly thereafter, based on requests to allow log shipments from Chile and New 



