21 



Do you agree with this recommendation, and do you think a zero 

 tolerance pohcy is a desirable objective? 



Mr. Carlton. A zero tolerance policy for nuisance species is ex- 

 actly what we need. 



Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Mr. Carlton. I thank the 

 entire panel for their testimony. This will be certainly helpful to 

 our Committee, as well as to the country. At this point I would like 

 to move on to the next panel. If time permits, I will ask the mem- 

 bers of the Panel 1 to return to the witness table so that I can di- 

 rect some questions to the entire group. 



Thank you again. 



Senator Akaka. For the next panel, we have Dr. Faith Campbell 

 from the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Dr. Deborah Jen- 

 sen of The Nature Conservancy. 



We are glad to have you here. We look forward to your state- 

 ments. Dr. Campbell? 



TESTIMONY OF FAITH THOMPSON CAMPBELL, PH.D.,i 

 NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL, WASHINGTON, DC. 



Ms. Campbell. Thank you. It is my pleasure to be here on behalf 

 of Natural Resources Defense Council to talk about the impacts of 

 invasive alien species. Some of us call it biological pollution. 



Biological pollution costs Americans money. There is at least $2 

 billion lost in timber revenues as a result of invasive alien pests. 

 Gypsy moth-infested areas suffer a 20 percent reduction in rec- 

 reational use. Cities and towns throughout the country are spend- 

 ing approximately $100 million per year to remove dead and dying 

 elm trees. And nursery owners in the Northwest lost an estimated 

 $1 million in 1950's dollars— so that is probably five times that 

 much in today's money— due to the spread of the root disease on 

 Port-Orford-cedar. Christmas tree sales are restricted in various 

 parts of the country because of exotic pests established on the 

 trees. 



The U.S. Department of Agriculture alone is currently spending 

 about $30 million per year to maintain harvest levels of tree spe- 

 cies which have not already been virtually eliminated by exotic 

 pest trees. Most of these funds go to one species: suppressing the 

 gypsy moth. NRDC believes that there is inadequate attention to 

 other exotic pests which threaten the extinction of certain tree spe- 

 cies or severe ecological disruption. 



We hear very much nowadays about ecosystem management, a 

 direction that we applaud. Biological pollution is the greatest 

 threat to forest ecosystems of all. The chestnut was 25 percent of 

 the standing volume of the Eastern deciduous forest in 1900. It is 

 now, for all practical purposes, gone. 



What has happened to the wildlife of the Eastern forests that ate 

 the nuts from the chestnut, the butternut, the berries from the dog- 

 wood, all of which are now gone from all or large portions of their 

 range, and also nuts from populations of oak and American beech, 

 which are also being reduced by exotic pests? 



The Eastern hemlock, I believe you have a hemlock branch up 

 there, with attached the egg cases of the hemlock woolly adelgid. 



* The prepared statement of Ms. Campbell appears on page 78. 



