74 



U.S. House of Representatives 



Committee on Resources 



Subcommittee on Parks, Forests and Lands 



The Honorable James V. Hansen, Chairman 



July 23, 1996 



Statement by the Honorable Wally Herger 



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 Option 9. President Clinton said on that occasion that "the Pacific 

 Northwest requires both a healthy economy and a healthy environment and that one 

 cannot exist without the other." 



It is only appropriate, therefore, that we hold this hearing to determine whether the 

 Clinton Forest Plan is successfully presendng both our environment and our northwest 

 economies. 



Perhaps the best place to start 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 purpose 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 second is of a blowdown in a late successional 

 reserve along Lone Pine Ridge in the Six Rivers National Forest bordering my district and 

 Mr. Riggs' district. As you can see, pictures truly can paint a thousand words. 



The Lick Creek site burned in 1994 in a fire that covered over 27,000 acres. The 

 Lone Pine Ridge site was part of a blowdown 17 miles long and 7 miles wide. Both sites 

 are now imminently susceptible to insect infestations, disease and wildfire. The local 

 Forest Service believes both are in immediate need of onergency salvage harvesting under 

 the salvage law to protect owl habitat, begin reforestation, and provide several million 

 board feet of timber for local mills. Tragically, however, the Clinton Administration has 

 forbidden it under a recent directive fi'om the Clinton Administration restricting 

 implementation of the timber salvage law. 



These scenes can be repeated over and over again in the Option 9 forests of 

 northern California. Washington policies which mandate doing nothing are literally 

 destroying the health of our forests. 



Tragedies like Lick Creek £•! Lone Pine Ridge are the direct consequence of 

 Washington dictating local policy under the salvage law. But even without the salvage 



