I notice my two colleagues walked in. Stay right where you are. 

 If my two colleagues would please come up here, we are going to 

 put you up here, if that is all right, and give you a moment. These 

 folks do not mind sitting a minute as you come up. All the way up 

 here, Mr. Herger and Mr. Riggs, if you would, right up here close, 

 so we can hear you. We appreciate you two being here, even though 

 you are both late. 



Mr. RiGGS. If the record would note, we had baseball practice 

 this morning. 



Mr. Hansen. First things first. I understand the priorities 

 around here. 



Mr. Herger. It was a charity game that we play here, Mr. Chair- 

 man. 



Mr. Hansen. Of course. An3rway, if you two baseball players 

 would like to go. We are very grateful to have these two very dis- 

 tinguished gentlemen from California who really have a great un- 

 derstanding of this issue. Mr. Herger, and then Mr. Riggs. 



STATEMENT OF THE HON. WALLY HERGER, A U.S. 

 REPRESENTATIVE FROM CALIFORNIA 



Mr. Herger. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members, for invit- 

 ing me to join you today. 



This Subcommittee has worked long and hard to provide over- 

 sight on a broad range of forest management issues. Today's sub- 

 ject, President Clinton's Northwest Forest Plan, or Option 9, as it 

 is commonly called, may very well be the most important forest 

 management subject we will address this year. 



I would like to begin by welcoming two of my constituents who 

 have joined us today. Supervisor-Elect Joan Smith is with us from 

 Siskiyou County, California. Also joining us is Gerry Bendix of Hi- 

 Ridge Lumber Company in Eureka, California. Joan and Gerry, it 

 is good to have you here and we all look forward to hearing your 

 comments. 



Mr. Chairman, it is not often that I agree with President Clinton 

 when it comes to forest management. However, I fully concur with 

 a statement he made in 1993 at a press conference announcing Op- 

 tion 9. At that time, President Clinton said that, "The Pacific 

 Northwest requires both a healthy economy and a healthy environ- 

 ment and that one cannot exist without the other." 



It is only appropriate, therefore, that we hold this hearing to de- 

 termine whether the Clinton forest plan is successfully preserving 

 both our environment and our Northwest economies. Perhaps the 

 best place to begin is the health of the environment. I draw the 

 Subcommittee's attention to two photographs taken within two late 

 successional reserves in Northern California. These are two small 

 portions of the 21 million acres permanently set aside under the 

 Clinton plan for little or no human management. The stated pur- 

 pose of late successional reserves is to protect old growth forest 

 ecosystems and habitat for species like the spotted owl. 



The first photograph is of a burned late successional reserve on 

 Lick Creek in the Klamath National Forest in my district. The sec- 

 ond is of a blow-down in a late successional reserve along the Lone 

 Pine Ridge in the Six Rivers National Forest bordering my district 

 and Mr. Riggs' district. 



