205 



Let me, if I may, Mr. Chairman, respond specifically to the ques- 

 tions that you ask in inviting us to testify today, and I will summa- 

 rize this very quickly but go through each of the three assessments 

 and answer those questions having to do with scope, current sta- 

 tus, cost, public involvement types of decisions, and the anticipated 

 results. 



The Southern Appalachian Assessment was initiated by the For- 

 est Service. The total number of acres involved in the assessment, 

 as you indicated earlier, is 37 million acres. Of that, 4.6 million 

 acres are National Forest lands. The others are divided amongst 

 other Federal agencies but with the bulk of the land being private 

 lands in the remainder. 



The current status is that the assessment is to be released next 

 month in June. Cost, $1.8 million. There has been a far-reaching 

 public involvement process: A town hall meeting at the beginning 

 of the assessment, bimonthly working meetings open to the public, 

 monthly newsletters, technical reviews by people in and outside of 

 the agency who have expertise. 



For each of our National Forests we had two open houses to dis- 

 cuss the assessment. We had focus groups in five communities, 

 telephone surveys, and workshops sponsored by the Southern Ap- 

 palachian Management Advisory Project in Knoxville. So there was 

 a variety of public involvement processes used. 



There are no decisions that are being made by this assessment, 

 as you pointed out. This is an assessment only. The anticipated re- 

 sults are that we will have information for forest plan revisions, for 

 cumulative effects analysis, and for site-specific project planning in 

 the future. 



Now, let me turn to the Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project, SNEP, 

 which as you well know was initiated by Congress in the 1993 ap- 

 propriations act being conducted by an independent panel of sci- 

 entists with the funding coming from the Forest Service covering 

 in scope 25.6 million acres. Of that, about 63 percent, including 

 tribal government lands, is Federal lands. The State and private 

 lands comprise 37 percent of that total. 



The current status of the assessment is to be released again next 

 month in June. Cost, $6.6 million. The public involvement process: 

 Town meetings, 8 — 17 town meetings were held; 8 workshops; a 

 scientific peer review process of the products; a key contact group 

 which has been involved along the way; 40 plus meetings with in- 

 terested groups; and 4 mailings of newsletters with a mailing list 

 of 500 people. 



The types of decisions: Again, none because this is an assess- 

 ment, not a decision process. 



Anticipated results: Information for Congress, to whom the study 

 will be presented. Also, obviously, the information can be used by 

 our agency and others in the same manner that the Southern Ap- 

 palachian Assessment is expected to be used. 



The Columbia River Basin Project initiated by both the Forest 

 Service and Bureau of Land Management covering 144 million 

 acres of which 30 million acres is National Forest land. BLM, 45 

 million acres; tribe, 58; government, 6; State, 5; others including 

 other smaller portions of Federal lands, 59 million acres. 



