for most people. Housing demand is up, lumber prices are high, 

 and the demand is going down. 



And while I know that preservationists arent really concerned 

 about putting 40,000 people out of work in the Northwest, I am not 

 sure they want to be associated with stifling the expansion of this 

 economy. So it is in the national interest for our land management 

 agencies to assure the long-term sustainability of our Federal 

 landmass. By and large, they are doing a commendable job, and we 

 will hear more about that today. 



There are those who will try to discredit the professional on the 

 ground. We saw an example last year when the m^ority issued a 

 fatally flawed reforestation report that was a complete work of fic- 

 tion. I thought the land management agencies' critique of this re- 

 port poked so many holes in it that it isn't reallv worth discussing. 



As we take a close look at our public lands todav, I hope we keep 

 one thing in mind. We are going to need the Federal lands in the 

 Pacific Northwest to provide wood for this Nation. We cannot rely 

 on private lands or Canada or Russia or anywhere else. So, if the 

 President and this Congress are prepared to take half of the stand- 

 ing softwood in the United States out of production, the American 

 people better be prepared to pay the price. 



Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Vento. Mr. DeFazio. 



OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. PETER A. DeFAZIO 



Mr. DeFazio. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am a little dis- 

 appointed. We have been having real door-busting turnouts here 

 lately, and now when we get down to some, I believe, very impor- 

 tant issues I am disappointed to see it doesn't seem to be quite as 

 startling to the press or even some members of advocacy groups. 



Since I first came to the Congress, my first hearing was with this 

 committee examining the proposed budget of the then, as I remem- 

 ber, Mr. Burford's BLM and under the direction of the Reagan ad- 

 ministration. At that time I raised questions about the backlog in 

 precommercial thinning and other treatment activities that would 

 yield future productivity and pointed to some disturbing numbers 

 and trends. We see that to date some of those concerns have not 

 been fully addressed. 



Further, I went down to Appropriations and asked back then 

 something that not many other Members were willing to do. I said, 

 cut the road budget here that is being recommended. Take some of 

 the money from the road budgets, particularly on Forest Service 

 lands, and reinvest it in other values that will lessen the conflicts 

 and lead to productivity. 



Now, we had a lot of people who are willing to go down and tes- 

 tify to lessen the road budget in order to reduce timber harvesting, 

 but there wasn't a lot of support for reallocating the funds. And I 

 hope the turnout today, other than my colleague from Oregon and 

 others, is not an indication that that situation is going to continue 

 in the future. Because one of the key parts of resolving the ongoing 

 crisis in the Northwest forests is going to be to increase investment 

 in those lands which are deemed suitable for timber harvest, also 

 in lands that are not suitable for timber harvest in terms of refor- 

 estation activities. We took testimony in this committee 2 weeks 



