237 



The outcome of all that effort is about — by our analysis, is that 

 5 percent of the forested area in Oregon falls into riparian manage- 

 ment areas. They then rigorously regulate activity within those 

 areas, and those activities in the form of best management prac- 

 tices, rules within the Forest Practices Act are — become the ap- 

 proved best management practices under section 208 of the Clean 

 Water Act, which means they have to be approved by the EPA. So 

 the EPA approves — finds them to be adequate for stream protec- 

 tion. The Fish and Wildlife Service and Marine Fisheries Service 

 don't necessarily have any direct say or comment on what the 

 States do unless there is a direct endangered species issue. 



But I think we would find, if we were to examine all the details, 

 that the forest practices rules are in place and are enforced effec- 

 tively. The agencies are not having much trouble with regard to en- 

 dangered species associated with those State forest practices rules. 



Mrs. Chenoweth. On the PACFISH program, can you tell me 

 how much the PACFISH program would take in from the stream 

 bed to — I mean, outside the stream bed — I guess it begins from 

 high- water mark on out. 



Mr. McGreer. Yes, in simple terms, PACFISH for fish-bearing 

 streams requires a minimum 300-foot buffer width for perennial 

 streams which contain fish. It is about 150 feet wide — this is on 

 each side the stream — and for perennial streams without fish, and 

 50 to 100 for intermittent streams. 



I did an analysis about three years ago, and 31 percent of this 

 particular wet forest watershed fell within the buffer strips of the 

 riparian management areas under PACFISH. We recently did an 

 analysis, and 21 percent of the total land area fell within these 

 management zones in a dry forest type. 



Mrs. Chenoweth. Mr. McGreer, doesn't PACFISH also include 

 that area that would be included in the 100-year flood plain. 



Mr. McGreer. Yes, it does, and there are two or three complicat- 

 ing considerations in the area covered by PACFISH as there are in 

 other strategies and they add to that basic area. It is a little harder 

 to generalize and predict how much would be involved in any given 

 watershed. 



Mrs. Chenoweth. Mr. McGreer, being from Lewiston were you 

 able to see any reports as to how much of their allowable cut would 

 be diminished if PACFISH went into place today? 



Mr. McGreer. I don't recall seeing any of those reports. 



Mrs. Chenoweth. I think it was about 60 percent, and that has 

 a huge impact. 



How did PACFISH work out? 



Mr. McGreer. PACFISH, it is a long story, but basically 

 PACFISH mirrors the riparian guidelines that came forth from 

 FEMAT, from the western Oregon westside spotted owl forests; so 

 the riparian zones, in my opinion, came out of the FEMAT, in larjge 

 part strategies designed to protect spotted owls and terrestrial 

 wildlife species. 



But what happened is, it got translated into a series of guidelines 

 that were just to apply to anadromous fishery streams throughout 

 the Columbia River Basin systems; and then furthermore, that 

 then got translated into INFISH, which is a system for resident 

 fish species. 



