96 



3 



impact of the introduced Gypsy moth far worse than it would have been if the chestnut had 



remained as a major forest component. 



Meanwhile, white pme blister rust was spreading through the East, LaJce States, 

 Northwest and California, killing many and sometimes most of the beautiful 5-ncedIe pines. 

 Especially hard hit were the eastern white pine, western white pine and sugar pine. 

 Commercially, these are the preferred species for many uses. They are also majestic trees 

 with excellent form, and beautiful foliage and cones. The largest pine in the world is sugar 

 pine in California and Oregon, the oldest tree is a bristlecone pine, and a major source of 

 food for the endangered grizzly bear is the mast seeds from whitebark pine. AU are 

 potentially threatened by the rust. Where I live now in northern Idaho, about 40 percent of 

 the forest was composed of western white pine at the turn of the century. It is now down to 

 S percent due mainly to mortality caused by the rust and to management decisions to favor 

 other species because of rust. As a result, white pine has been replaced by species such as 

 grand fir, subalpine fir and Douglas-fir thai are much more susceptible to root diseases. For 

 that reason, the northern Rocky Mountains are often called the root disease capital of the 

 World. The same situation is developing in California where sugar pine is beiag removed 

 from many forests. The losses, both economic and ecological, have been enormous though 

 not yet on the scale of those caused by chesmut blight. 



Largely as a result of the introduction of these two disease-causing fungi, the 

 forerunner of our current APHIS was erected. The mission of APHIS has always been the 

 protection of our natural and agricultural resources against the invasion of exotic pests. This 

 is to be done without un necessarily restricdng international commerce. A major key in the 

 controversy sunxjundlng this issue seems to be the interprcuition of the word, unnecessarily. 



