20 



Mr. Richmond, I have a question. The river recreation manage- 

 ment plan you adopted for the Snake River and Hells Canyon is 

 probably the most complex regulatory and difficult to administer of 

 any in this Nation, yet your forest can barely afford to provide 

 basic services. My constituents tell me that seasonal staff can't be 

 hired, that the new campground at Pittsburgh landing can't be 

 maintained or the water turned off, and the trails can't be opened. 



Given the budget constraints that all agencies are under, how 

 can you justify a restrictive plan when other basic services are left 

 undone? 



Mr. Lyons. Congresswoman, I don't know that Bob is in a posi- 

 tion to have to deal with larger budget issues that affect the Forest 

 Service as a whole. Like, I think, all forest supervisors, and like all 

 forests, Wallowa- Whitman is facing constraints that we recognize 

 in our goal of trying to reduce our expenditures to get down to a 

 balanced budget. 



The recreation program is a program that has not received sig- 

 nificant increases in funds in recent years. In fact, our proposed fis- 

 cal year '97 budget is flat-lined with regard to recreation receipts. 

 We have some flexibility and ability with regard to the recreation 

 program to develop other sources of revenue. We have used part- 

 nerships and volunteer programs as a mechanism to help us deal 

 with everything from trail maintenance to facilities maintenance. 



There is contained in the recently signed Appropriations Act a 

 provision for a pilot program to allow us to charge recreational re- 

 ceipts at certain developed camp sites and also to pour the money 

 back into recreation management. 



Mr. Chenoweth. Mr. Lyons, I really appreciated your testimony 

 when you said you wanted to return more control to your local for- 

 esters, and I am asking him about his management of his own for- 

 est. 



Mr. Lyons. Well, I just wanted to make clear 



Mrs. Chenoweth. Obviously, Mr. Lyons — excuse me. 



Mr. Lyons. Yes, madame. 



Mrs. Chenoweth. Obviously, you don't want him to answer. Is 

 that the case for the record? 



Mr. Lyons. No, I think Bob knows well how to answer the ques- 

 tion and he is free to answer the question. I just want to make 

 clear, Congresswoman, that you understand the context in which 

 a Bob Richmond or a Bert Kulesza have to operate. They get a cer- 

 tain amount of funds to work with, and they make the best man- 

 agement decisions they can make based on their professional exper- 

 tise. 



Mrs. Chenoweth. I do understand how we allocate the funds. I 

 don't understand what happens to them when they get to your 

 level and down to the local level. 



So I wonder with regards to that forest and the management of 

 those facilities, if we might have a breakdown of the funding. 



Mr. Lyons. I am sure that we can provide you that. I don't want 

 to interfere with my supervisor's opportunity to answer the ques- 

 tion, if you would like him to do so. 



Mrs. Chenoweth. I am asking you right now, Mr. Lyons, to get 

 the numbers for us. 



Mr. Lyons. We can certainly do that. 



