109 



OREGON 



NATURAL 



RESOURCES 



COUNCIL 



MAINOmCS 



YBDN BUII-DfNC SUTTE 1050 



in socmfWEsr fifth k/enve 



POniANn OREOOI 972tM 

 5(n-223-W01 



Piaeaing Otgani landi 

 waren aruJ natural KSounxs 



from Joy Belsky, Staff Ecologist and 

 Dan Hall, Volunteer Policy Analyst 



Timber Lnports 



Threaten Northwest 



Forests! 



Lumber mills in the Northwest are beginning to import raw logs, lumber, and wood products from Chile 

 and New Zealand and are proposing to impon from Siberia as well. Leading forest plant pathologists in 

 the United States say that log imports from temperate countries can be devastating because logs and 

 wood products from these countries are likely to carry insect pests and plant diseases that can thrive in 

 American forests. These pests are capable of eliminating individual tree species and decimating entire 

 ecosystems. 



In the eastern U.S., American chestnut, American elm, and white pine have been destroyed 6y pests that 

 entered the U.S. on imported logs or nursery stock. These diseases killed billions of mature trees and 

 changed the composition and ecology of these forests forever. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's 

 Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is finally writing rules to regulate wood imports — 

 but they are not adequate! APHIS 's Proposed Rules create a whole new set of problems for the forests 

 of the Northwest and the world. 



RISKS DUE TO IMPORTS 



Foreign insects, fungi, and bacterial/viral pathogens often have no predators in North America, and 

 domestic plants lack immunity to them. Consequently, introduced pests can reach epidemic propor- 

 tions. American chestnut, for example, once made up one-quarter of all hardwood trees in eastern 

 U.S. forests, but it has been nearly exterminated by the introduced (foreign) chestnut blight 



Over 175 known pests are associated with Siberian Larch trees alone. Douglas fir is vulnerable to 

 these pests. APHIS projects possible timber losses of $58 billion from pests introduced from Siberia. 

 Such estimates do not include impacts to aquatic resources, wildlife habitat, and forest-dependent 

 species. 



Attempts to control foreign pests have historically included pesticide applications to infested forem, 

 causing further human health and environmental damage and costing taxpayers millions. The receoi 

 introduction of Asian gypsy moth by grain ships from Siberia cost American taxpayers $27 million to 

 control! 



Scientists say that only heat-treated wood is safe and effective for import. However, APHIS calls for 

 temperatures below those known to be effective against many virulent pathogens and the treatmeni 

 can be applied months after the arrival of the logs at U.S. ports. 



APHIS also recommends fumigating logs and wood products with methyl bromide, an acutely toxic 

 pesticide that also depletes the critical ozone layer. Its production and sale will be banned in the U.S. 

 after 2(X) 1 . New uses of methyl bromide should be prohibited, not mandated. 



The high-latitude forests of the Siberian taiga are slow-growing and may never recover from the 

 clearcutting proposed by Hyundai, Weyerhaeuser, and other multinationals. Indigenous peoples who 

 subsist on hunting and farming will lose their livelihoods and endangered species such as the Sibenan 

 tiger will lose their ecosystems, perhaps forever. 



