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STATEMENT OF KENELM W. RUSSELL 



Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee: Thank you for inviting me to comment 

 on importation of foreign logs, lumber, and other unmanufactured wood articles. 



As Forest Pathologist for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources' (DNR), 

 I have been intimately involved in the temperate zone log import issue since it began about 

 four years ago. I attended several working meetings on the West Coast to help shape 

 preliminary ideas for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement. 



I have concerns about log imports from two different points of view: 1) concerns about 

 the exotic pest threat to Washington forest lands which includes 2.1 million acres of state, 

 10 million acres of private, and 5 million acres of federal lands; and 2) concerns as 

 manager of a statewide forest health program whose clientele own or manage almost 12 

 million acres of those commercial forest lands. New and exotic forest pests are one of our 

 worst collective fears. 



Since 1965, 1 have dealt with many destructive forest pests in Washington. Most are 

 native; a few are introduced exotics. The detection and prevention of exotic pests of trees 

 are extremely costly. For instance, since 1980, the USD A and numerous states have spent 

 more than $130 million to suppress gypsy moth infestations. Half of this amount was 

 spent in the last five years. Just a single "eradication" spray in the Tacoma, Washington, 

 vicinity of a suspected Asian gypsy moth infestation cost more than $13.5 million. This 

 project was based on the presence of only six trapped "escapees" likely hatching from an 

 egg mass on a ship arriving from a Russian Far East port. 



It literally takes an army of people to detect a few exotic pests. In 1992, the 360 

 additional gypsy moth trappers increased the regular staff of the Washington State 

 Department of Agriculture (WSDA) by more than half 



Changes in Wood Supply 



As the supply of available wood, particuiaHy from federal lands, declined in the Pacific 

 Northwest, interest in alternative log sources increased. Even though the Pacific 

 Northwest exports high quality logs, economic pressure for lower quality wood may 

 create a real demand for foreign logs. Imported logs may be needed to sustain those U.S. 

 mills without a forest land base who traditionally purchased logs from federal or state 

 lands. 



Problems Inherent in Log Importation 



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

 unmanufactured wood articles to the United States is not in the best interest for the health 

 and protection of our forests. Nevertheless, if for economic reasons logs are imported, 

 regulations must provide for the highest level of pest prevention; inspection alone will not 

 suffice. 



