70 



that have been recommended by your local experts go forward 

 under the salvage law? 



Mr. Thomas. Under the salvage law, no, sir, but I would assume 

 if they are good, sound operations and those roadless areas are in 

 the timber base, we will proceed under regular process after the ex- 

 piration of the salvage law. I think the Secretar3r's concern is that 

 we prepare full environmental impact statements for entry into 

 roadless areas that are in the forest plans for timber base, that 

 that is the standard process and he feels that we should not enter 

 a roadless area without ability for public appeal. 



Mr. Herger. You are also aware, being Chief of the Forest Serv- 

 ice, of the problem we have. The reason for the salvage law was 

 the fact that we have a timeframe for working before these trees 

 become unmarketable. 



Mr. Thomas. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Herger. Depending on the species, it is 18 months to three 

 years at maximum, two to three years. If the extreme environ- 

 mentalists through their lawsuits can stall us long enough, it does 

 not matter if you put them up, and that is what is happening. We 

 sat down and spent a lot of time, both with yourself and your rep- 

 resentatives when we drew up the salvage law this last year. This 

 was the problem that we were addressing, and yet you — maybe I 

 should begin addressing my questions to Mr. Lyons. 



Mr. Lyons, why is it that the very tool that the administration 

 worked with us to draw up, including the Forest Service and Mr. 

 Thomas, is being defeated by a directive that now will stall this 

 longer and do exactly the opposite of what the intent was? 



Mr. Lyons. I think, Mr. Herger, the Secretary stated it best in 

 the memorandum that he sent to Jack. He stated in the opening 

 paragraph, "Unique and unprecedented provisions of the emer- 

 gency salvage program authorized in P.L. 104-19 impose an equal- 

 ly unprecedented responsibility upon us to administer the program 

 while sustaining the public's confidence in our stewardship of the 

 national forests. While I believe the program has been successful 

 due to the dedication of Forest Service employees, I do have some 

 concerns and members of the public have expressed concerns about 

 its implementation and those concerns have given rise to the fol- 

 lowing clarifications in policy." That is, I think, the key. 



Also, I just want to clarify for the record that our participation 

 in the development of the salvage rider was, I think, more at the 

 tail end than in the beginning, as we sought to mitigate some of 

 the impacts of what we thought the initial version of that bill 

 might be. 



Mr. Herger. Are you saying that the agreement that the admin- 

 istration, through the Forest Service, came up with and signed off 

 on a letter, as well as the letter that President Clinton signed in 

 which he said he intended to implement this, were not what they 

 really meant? 



Mr. Lyons. I am saying two things, Mr. Herger. One is that we 

 will fulfill the commitments that we made, consistent with the let- 

 ter that was written by Secretary Glickman to the Speaker, and we 

 will operate consistent with the goals that were set, plus or minus 

 25 percent. 



