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Mr. KiLDEE. I have had many occasions to talk to your people in 

 Michigan, particularly in the Upper Peninsula. They certainly are 

 professional, sensitive, and are really doing an excellent job there. 



Mr. Unger. Thank you. 



Mr. Hansen. Mr. Kildee, how large is the wilderness area you 

 have in Michigan? 



Mr. Kildee. The Federal wilderness is 92,000 acres. We didn't 

 have much virgin timber left. We have about 92,000 acres. It was 

 a good bipartisan bill. I can recall President Reagan signing the bill 

 into law. 



In those days, it was great — most all the great environmental 

 legislation on the Federal level has been bipartisan. The Hank Riv- 

 ers bill was signed into law by President Bush. I think it is great 

 when we can approach these things as you tried to, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Hansen. I need more of your folks on my bill. See what you 

 can do on that, will you? 



Thank you, Mr. Kildee. 



Mr. Hansen. The gentleman from California. 



Mr. Herger. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and commit- 

 tee. I do very much appreciate the opportunity to be able to sit 

 with you on the committee. With some eight National Forests in 

 my congressional district in California, this is very much an impor- 

 tant issue to us. 



And, Mr. Unger, I appreciate you and your colleagues joining us 

 this morning. 



The original legislation which outlined the purpose of this SNEP 

 study intended that the SNEP report be prepared for Congress, 

 and in a January 19, 1993, letter to the chief of the Forest Service 

 from the then chairman of this committee, George Miller, sub- 

 committee chairman Bruce Vento, and six of their colleagues. Con- 

 gress stated in the letter to the Forest Service that, quote, "This 

 study should provide the Congress with the comprehensive data 

 needed to make important policy decisions concerning future man- 

 agement of the Sierra Nevada Forest," closed quote. 



Mr. Unger, could you tell me, whether the Forest Service shares 

 this view that this SNEP is a congressional study, or does it view 

 SNEP as an administration study? 



Mr. Unger. We view this as a congressional study. 



Mr. Herger. Has it been the policy of the Forest Service to fol- 

 low the directions for preparing a study as followed in H.R. 3016, 

 the legislation outlining how the study was to proceed? 



Mr. Unger. I believe so. I am going to ask Mr. Aune to comment 

 further. He has been aware of all those steps that have been taken. 



Mr. Aune. We utilize the information from H.R. 6013 plus the 

 congressional letter from Congressman Volkmer and discussions 

 with House staff in designing the total concept of the project, but 

 the predominant force in the project is H.R. 6013. 



Mr. Herger. Thank you very much, Mr. Aune. 



The Forest Service then views the SNEP report as a congres- 

 sional study. My question to you, Mr. Unger, is, why didn't the 

 agency prepare a draft report of the study in December 1994 as re- 

 quired by Congress in H.R. 6013?s 



Mr. Unger. Let me ask Phil to respond to that. 



