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Social and Economic Challenges Facing Counties Impacted by Reduced Wood Production 

 on Federal Lands in the Spotted Owl Region 



Submitted by 

 Professor Robert G. Lee 



INTRODUCTION 



My name is Robert G. Lee. I currently serve as Professor of Forest Resources at 

 the University of Washington. I specialize in the application of sociology to problems of 

 natural resources protection and management. I have worked for the U.S. Forest Service, 

 U.S. National Park Service, and Rockport Redwood Company, and for over 13 years 

 cooperated with the U.S. Man and the Biosphere Program to promote and enhance 

 biosphere reserves and demonstration areas for sustainable development. 1 have been on 

 the faculty at the University of Washington for 18 years and served as Chair for the 

 Division of Forest Resources Management and currently serve as Associate Dean for 

 Academic Affairs for the College of Forest Resources. My comments today reflect my 

 professional opinion and do not represent the College of J-brest Resources, University of 

 Washington, or any other persons or institutions. 



My testimony will summarize results of a study describing some of the social and 

 economic challenges facing counties affected by reductions in wood production on federal 

 lands in the spotted owl region. Details on this study, including maps and description of 

 data sources and methods, are available in a report published last year (Lee, 1995). This 

 study was completed in the summer of 1995 to describe 1988-92 changes in population, 

 jobs, and income for the 72 spotted owl region coimties. Appropriate data for years after 

 1992 were not yet available when data analysis was completed. Despite the lack of data for 

 the last three years, the five-year 1988-92 series provides useful information for tracking 

 the immediate social and economic effects of reduced federal wood supply resulting from 

 federal court injunctions and the President's forest plan. Subsequent effects of reduced 

 federal wood supply are also substantial, but are not reflected in the information I will 

 present. 



The primary purpose of this study was to show the geographic distribution of social 

 £md economic challenges resulting from reduction in federal wood supply. Focus of 

 attention on economic activity at the state level has obscured the differential impacts 

 occurring at the county level. Some have concluded that the economic well-being of the 

 Pacific Northwest has been unaffected, or even positively affected, by reductions m federal 

 wood supply (Power, 1995). Aggregate data summarized at the state level cloud the 

 differential effects of growing rural unemployment, social problems, poverty, and political 

 alienation taking place at the community and county level. The county-level data 

 summarized in this testimony also suffer from the same defect, and obscure the differential 

 impacts on communities, families, and individuals within counties. However, counties are 

 the smallest subdivision available in most archival records of economic activity. 



