five national forests of my district. I have jobs creation, watershed 

 restoration and timber stand improvement projects in that bill, and 

 as I went through every forest I was amazed at the list that came 

 forward. 



The list was very broad. Work needs to be done in the roaded 

 fronts of every forest, just so that the timber sale programs can 

 move ahead. 



And so your hearing today is very, very critical as we investigate 

 and look into this problem. I intend on spending a lot of time on 

 this particular issue. I look forward to hearing wnat our very capa- 

 ble witnesses have to say about this, and I appreciate your particu- 

 lar interest in this issue. 



Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Vento. I thank the gentlemtin for his work, and we look for- 

 ward to reviewing his latest proposal, the wilderness solution for 

 his district. 



We are pleased to welcome our colleague Ron Wyden, who has 

 appeared before the committee from time to time on resource is- 

 sues, the dean of the Oregon delegation for the House side. 



STATEMENT OF HON. RON WYDEN, A U.S. REPRESENTATIVE 

 FROM THE STATE OF OREGON 



Mr. Wyden. I thank the chairman very much, and let me say 

 right at the outset you have got a long hearing today. I think it 

 would be cruel and unusual punishment, Mr. Chairman, to give 

 you a filibuster. And, if I might put my prepared remarks in the 

 record and maybe just highlight some of my principal concerns? 



Mr. Vento. Yes. Without objection. 



Mr. Wyden. First, Mr. Chairman, we want to thank you for all 

 the time you have spent on these important issues over the years. 

 You have spent an awful lot of time trekking aroimd the forests of 

 the Northwest as Peter, Bob and I did this last weekend. And years 

 ago you were saying there had to be a change in the way natural 

 resource policy was set, and I personally think we should have 

 heeded a lot of the wisdom that you called for then and we very 

 much appreciate it. 



With respect to the issues we are talking about, I think we know 

 that our colleague Peter DeFazio has been tireless in pursuing 

 these issues over the years. And Congressman Bob Smith and I 

 have had a chance to team up often on many of these issues. Cer- 

 tainly there is nothing partisan about the job we have got in front 

 of us with respect to reforestation. I am also pleased our friend 

 Larry LaRocco is here, and even though, as he mentions, probablv 

 there isn't a whole lot of BLM land in Idaho, we are going to call 

 on him and involve him in these efforts as well. 



Mr. Chairman, I would say that a good reforestation program, a 

 program that is well integrated with other priorities such as the re- 

 pair of great damage that has been done to our forests, streams 

 and rivers, can do an enormous amount of good for creating both 

 jobs and a sound forest environment that we can leave to our chil- 

 dren and our grandchildren. 



Yesterdav, Mike Kopetski, Wally Herger and I introduced H.R. 

 1502, legislation to expand, improve and reform reforestation and 

 stand enhancement activity on public lands in Oregon, Washing- 



