54 



C. Governors ' Management Directive 



1. WGA staff is instructed to prepare correspondence directed to congressional 

 leadership that communicates this position. Staff is further instructed to inform 

 lead Governors regarding key congressional hearings and executive branch meetings 

 at which testimony can be offered to support this position. 



This resolution passed by a vote of the Governors at the 1993 Annual Meeting in 

 Tucson, Arizona. Governor Romer, Colorado, by proxy abstained from the vote. 



LETTER OF SENATOR CRAIG TO GEORGE LEONARD 



Senator Larry E. Craig, 

 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC, July 2, 1993. 



On June 24, 1993, you accompanied Assistant Secretary Jim Lyons before the 

 Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Agriculture Research, Conservation, Forestry, 

 and General Legislation to testify on the administration's below-cost timber sale 

 policy proposals. Mr. Lyons' testimony references the Forest Service's April, 1993 

 Timber Sale Cost Efficiency Study as the principal outline of how the administra- 

 tion's budget objectives for the Forest Service will be met. Would you please provide 

 a copy of this study for the record? 



During our hearing you said the efficiency improvements which will result from 

 the management changes identified by this study will need to be "phased in" over a 

 period of several years. Please advise us for the record of the phase-in schedule you 

 would propose, and the associated cost savings/budget reductions you would antici- 

 pate for each year of the phase-in period. 



RESPONSE FROM THE U.S. FOREST SERVICE 



U.S. Forest Service 

 Washington, DC, August 2, 1993. 



Hon. Larry E. Craig, 



Room 313, Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510. 



Dear Senator Craig: A copy of the Forest Service Timber Program Cost Efficien- 

 cy Report is enclosed as requested in your July 2, 1993 letter. * 



The report contains a comprehensive analysis of timber program costs, organiza- 

 tional structures, financial accountability, and the reasons for observed cost in- 

 creases. The analysis involves all levels of the Forest Service organization and fo- 

 cuses on examining cost trends during the period FY 1988 to FY 1991. As part of 

 this undertaking, all administrative units were asked to identify actions that would 

 improve efficiency, and these recommendations along with timeframes for imple- 

 mentation have been included in the report. 



Followup of planned actions will occur through management reviews and periodic 

 progress reports from the regions. The first progress report has been requested by 

 October 11, 1993. In that report, the regions have been requested to describe their 

 accomplishments related to each item in the action plan, including an estimate of 

 the dollar savings that have been generated as a result of implementing these ac- 

 tions. A summary of the progress report which will include the estimated cost sav- 

 ings will be provided to you. 



In addition, each region has been directed to develop a comprehensive work force 

 plan that covers timber and related programs. These plans are intended to provide 

 the basis for systematically adjusting the Service's work force in response to 

 changes in timber program size and management and the types of skills needed for 

 the future. As these adjustments are made, they are expected to result in cost reduc- 

 tions and improvements in efficiency. 



These actions being taken to control timber program costs and improve efficiency 

 should have a beneficial effect on future costs; however, because of significant policy 

 and procedural changes that have already been made, and others that are likely to 

 be made, it is impossible to assume that unit costs will decrease in the years ahead. 



However, the Forest Service has committed itself to doing everything in its power 

 to ensure that, in the future, whatever the cost of performing some particular activ- 



1 Retained in the committee file. 



