1EPARTMKNT OF BOTANY 

 AND PLANT PATHOLOGY 



148 



Oregon 



State 



University 



Cordk-y H.1II 20S2 

 Corvallis. Oregon 



Telephone 



Fax 



5(11-7?71S71 



24 June 1994 



Representative Charlie Rose, Chairman 

 Subcommittee on Specialty Crops and 



Natural Resources 

 Room 13 01, 



Longworth House Office Building, 

 Washington, DC 20515 



Dear Chairman Rose: 



I write in regard to APHIS-USDA's proposed 

 regulations governing importation of unprocessed 

 timber. 



The proposed regulations are inadequate for the 

 following reasons: 



1) They permit logs to leave the port of export 

 carrying disease fungi. Debarking and/or fumigation 

 will not kill fungi inside the logs. 



2) They permit logs to be trucked or shipped by 

 rail any distance from the port of import. Instead, 

 they must require wood to be processed within a 

 short distance (e.g. one mile) of port of entry. 



3) They permit unprocessed logs to be trucked 

 or shipped by rail through the most vulnerable 

 forests. Currently, logs are being trucked through 

 Coast Range and Cascade Range forests. Regulations 

 must ban shipment of unprocessed logs through 

 forests. 



4) They permit unprocessed logs to be shipped 

 uncovered and unprotected. Currently, logs are 

 being trucked uncovered, but coated with fungicide 

 and/or insecticide. However, proposed regulations 

 require neither cover nor protectant. 



If unprocessed logs must be imported, they 

 should be heat treated, either immediately prior to 

 departure from the exporting port or immediately 

 upon arrival. All other proposed measures are 

 inadequate to protect our forests from fungal 

 diseases such as those that have destroyed major 

 timber resources in the past. 



Clearly, the most prudent action your 

 subcommittee could recommend would be a total ban on 

 the importation of all unprocessed softwood logs. 



Sincerely, 



William C. Denison, 

 Prof. Emeritus 



o 



ISBN 0-16-046711-X 



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