27 



decision to just cut that business entirely and it just ripped into my 

 facility and so on. 



Mrs. Smith of Washington. Thank you. I think that is the point 

 that I think people need to understand, is that the supply is affect- 

 ing many, many different parts of the economy and that the cluster 

 of different plants in an area or mills is necessary to keep the cost 

 down, and you did that very well. Thank you. 



Mr. Olson. Right. 



Mr. Hansen. Thank you. 



Mr. Herger? 



Mr. Olson. One thing. I just got a note here. The Carpenters 

 Union issued a press release on the Sierra Club vote. 



Mrs Smith of Washington. The Carpenters Union did, also. 

 Thank you. 



Mr. Herger. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members. I appre- 

 ciate the chance to sit on the panel today, and I appreciate the tes- 

 timonies that we have heard from our panel, the testimonies of 

 each of you who are representing communities that have been dev- 

 astated and where we see tragedies taking place. 



I am also touched and can relate to Mr. Kildee here, who was 

 talking about his community in Flint, Michigan, and the loss of 

 jobs over the years in the automobile industry. But I think what 

 is particularly tragic about what I see happening in my district of 

 Northern California and throughout the Pacific Northwest is that 

 this need not be taking place. 



We know that may need to be changed whether in the auto- 

 mobile industry or in whatever the reason was for the tragedies 

 and the loss of jobs in Mr. Kildee's district, but we see in our dis- 

 tricts that there is still a need for paper products, including the 

 paper products with your testimonies, the tables, the wood prod- 

 ucts of the tables that you are sitting at, and the seats. The wood 

 products that are needed to build the homes for our children and 

 grandchildren are still needed. The demand is still there. 



We couple this with the tragedy that, according to Forest Service 

 records, our forests in California are 82 percent denser and are 

 thicker than they were in 1928. Our forests are not only not being 

 depleted, they are almost twice as dense as they were at the begin- 

 ning of the century. Yet, we see a policy here in Washington that 

 does not allow us to produce wood products that would be afford- 

 able for our nation. Instead, we see the people and the lives of real 

 families, real people, real children that are thrown out of work 

 needlessly because of a policy that is tragically flawed. 



Joan is a constituent of mine, and I congratulate you, too, on 

 your election, as a supervisor. 



Ms. Smith. Thank you. 



Mr. Herger. Joan, during a press conference in 1993 announcing 

 the President's forest plan. President Clinton said that his plan 

 would, "meet the need for year around, high wage, high skilled jobs 

 and a sustained, predictable level of economic activities in the for- 

 ests". In your opinion, how well has the President's plan lived up 

 to these promises so far as the communities you represent? 



Ms. Smith. Thank you. Congressman Herger. I did bring some 

 figures with me from the Employment Development Department, 



