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OREGON 

 NATURAL 

 RESOURCES 

 COUNCIL 



MAIN omcE 



YSON BuiLDrNo, surm 1090 



512 SOUTHWEST PinH AVBUUB 

 fOUTUitD. OREOOK 97204 

 503-2O-S001 



Protecting Oregon's lands, 

 waters and natural resources 



Comments of Dr. Joy Belsky, 

 Staff Ecologist, Oregon Natural Resources Council, 

 on APHIS'S Proposed Rules on the 

 Importation of Logs, Lumber, and Other Unmanufactured Wood Articles 



Congressional Committee on Agriculture 

 Subcommittee on Specialty Crops and Natural Resources 

 29 June 1994 



For over twenty years, thousands of Americans have dedicated their lives to trying to 

 preserve the remaining 5% of the ancient forests of the United States. Recently, this effort has 

 resulted in a new forest plan for the Pacific Northwest and recognition that our forests must be 

 managed as ecosystems. But as this process enters its fmal stages, something new is occurring 

 that could undermine this work and potentially destroy our most valuable forest lands. 



That something new is the importation into the United States of whole logs and 

 unprocessed wood articles from temperate nations around the world. Earlier, we were fighting to 

 save individual forest stands, watersheds, and unroadcd wilderness. Now, we are opposing the 

 importation of unprocessed wood articles in order to save entire tree species, including the 

 enormously valuable Douglas fir. Hemlock, and Longleaf pine, and to save entire forest 

 ecosystems, such as the Western Conifer Forests of Oregon. Washington, and California, the 

 Northern Conifer/Hardwood Forests of Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Michigan, and 

 Wisconsin, and the Southern Pine Forests of South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. We are 

 fighting to save these species and forests from virulent, exotic insect pests and disease pathogens 

 that will most certainly be introduced into the United States on imported logs and unprocessed 

 wood articles. These pests, coming from nations having similar climates and utilizing similar 

 forest species, will not only be able to survive in the tcmpcratr climates of the U.S., but they will 



