the O&C lands of Oregon. Those days are gone forever. Last year 

 the Forest Service sold about 700 million board feet and the BLM 

 only about 50 million board feet. This is a significant shift in forest 

 management of the Forest Service today. It is such a significant 

 shift that the Forest Service is planning on eliminating almost 900 

 positions from its Region VI work force. 



The transition from one era to another is not likely to be easy, 

 but as the land management agencies and the people of the North- 

 west work to adjust to this change, we must remind ourselves that 

 the new era of forest management in the Northwest is full of oppor- 

 tunities and potential. For jobs that may be lost, both by the Fed- 

 eral agencies or in the private sector to declining timber harvests, 

 there is potential for new employment opportunities in fisheries, 

 wildlife habitat and watershed improvement, recreation and refor- 

 estation. As timber pro-ams shrink, other programs could well 

 grow. There is an incredible amount of work that needs to be done 

 to maintain and restore forest ecosystems — enough work to employ 

 thousands of people. The Forest Service and the Bureau of Land 

 Mcinagement may focus, or refocus, and make wildlife, fish, recre- 

 ation, wilderness and ecosystems, a primary emphasis. 



Some refer to this potential as the three R's — reforestation, reha- 

 bilitation and reinvestment. The purpose of this hearing is to ex- 

 plore how to apply the three R's to the Federal forestlands of the 

 Pacific Northwest. If we can successfully reforest, rehabilitate and 

 reinvest in our national forests and public lands, this new era will 

 result in the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management 

 being stronger than ever, and will produce a regional economy 

 based on quality land management that is sustainable over time. 



The gentleman from Oregon, Mr. Smith. 



OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. ROBERT F. SMITH 



Mr. Smith. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Last week Mr. 

 DeFazio and I joined Secretary Babbitt in southwestern Oregon 

 looking at some of the forests we will be discussing today. We were 

 given a briefing, for instance, on the Applegate Partnership, which 

 is a project to manage some 500,000 acres on the Applegate River 

 watershed, in a manner that is ecologically and economically 

 sound. 



While it is not a perfect solution, the partnership at the very 

 least recognizes that timber products will continue to play an im- 

 portant role in the Pacific Northwest eind for this Nation as well 

 as protecting the ecology of the land, which brings me to the point 

 that the timber crisis in the Northwest is no longer a regional prob- 

 lem. I think most of us understand this in this committee. Half of 

 the standing softwood timber in the United States is managed by 

 the Federal Government and right now, as you pointed out, Mr. 

 Chairman, we can hardly and barely cut a stick of it. 



As a result, the Nation's economy and the recovery is in jeopardy 

 because of soaring lumber prices caused by our forests being shut 

 down for many reasons, including court injunctions. What we are 

 doing is assessing about a $4,000 increase in cost to a house. I call 

 it the spotted owl t£ix. We are inhibiting the American dream of 

 people who want to build their own home, and even with low inter- 

 est rates the spiraling cost of a home makes it totally out of reach 



