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Statement of Nancy K. Hayes 



ChierofStafT and Counselor 



Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of the Interior 



before the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Lands 

 Committee on Resources, U.S. House of Representatives 



On Implementation of the Northwest Forest Plan 



July 23, 1996 



I appreciate this opportunity to bring the Subcommittee up-to-date on the Bureau of Land 

 Management's (BLM) implementation of President Clinton's Northwest Forest Plan. The Plan 

 set high goals for the Federal agencies - to protect the viability of ecosystems and wildlife while 

 protecting the economic viability of resource-dependent communities ~ and the BLM has worked 

 very hard to meet those goals. We hear from our customers that we're doing a pretty good job. 

 We always strive to do better. 



In preparing for today's hearing, we recalled the context in which the Forest Plan was created. 

 That context was gridlock. The first goal of the Forest Plan was to put an end to the gridlock. 

 And it did. 



Little more than three years ago the Pacific Northwest and northern California were deadlocked in 

 an emotional, polarizing debate over how to manage the region's Federal forest lands. Many 

 logging and sawmill operations had ground to a standstill because of numerous Federal court 

 injunctions banning timber harvest from Federal lands in the region of the northern spotted owl ~ 

 western Oregon, western Washington, and northern California. In the three years before the 

 Forest Plan came out, the BLM had been under multiple court injunctions; our low point was in 

 1994, when the BLM was able to offer only 14.4 million board feet of timber. President Clinton 

 pledged to put an end to this gridlock, and he did. 



