58 



Mr. McCloskey. Well, two points; one, my understanding is that 

 we explicitly reserved the right, separate and apart from the agree- 

 ment, to pursue further legislative efforts. 



Mr. DOOLEY. There's nothing that precluded that agreement, 

 you're right. 



Mr. McCloskey. And we said very clearly that this was not the 

 end of the line as far as we were concerned. We did have lawsuits 

 pending. This wasn't our idea. We were induced to go into it, to try 

 it as an alternative to litigation. 



But as we said in our testimony, and Ms. Cloer said so clearly, 

 we think a lot of the expectations were not realized, the scientific 

 studies weren't completed, or they weren't done adequately. More 

 information has become available, and we think it's just time to 

 move on to deal with the appropriate framework for these kinds of 

 issues. 



Mr. DoOLEY. If I'm not correct, didn't the mediated settlement 

 agreement also have pretty much a dispute resolution process that 

 was a part of the agreement, that if you had some concerns or if 

 you had some complaints about violations of the features of the 

 provision, that there was a mechanism that was set up? Is that 

 right, Carla? 



Ms. Cloer. That's true. However, the settlement agreement did 

 have some escape clauses for the Forest Service. 



Mr. DoOLEY. It did have the dispute resolution process, correct? 



Ms. Cloer. The process of resolution was that we would put in 

 writing our concerns. The Forest Supervisor would answer in writ- 

 ing, and then if we were not satisfied, we could go to court. That's 

 in here, if you would like to have me show it to you now. 



Mr. DoOLEY. There was a prescribed complaint process? 



Ms. Cloer. That's true. We would put in it writing, and they 

 would write back and then we could get it recorded. 



Mr. DoOLEY. Did the Sierra Club, up until the last month, I 

 guess it is, did they ever once file a complaint under the processes 

 that were prescribed? 



Ms. Cloer. Yes, we have. 



Mr. DooLEY. They have actually filed a complaint to the Sierra 

 Club under the prescribed mechanisms in the mediated settlement 

 agreement? 



Ms. Cloer. Yes. Several times we have written letters sa3dng, 

 "This is our official notice that we do not agree with what you are 

 doing. We believe it violates a settlement agreement." 



Mr. DoOLEY. If you would provide copies to the committee of that 

 communication, it would be most helpful. 



Ms. Cloer. I would be very happy to do that. 



Mr. DoOLEY. Again, on the issue, Mr. Boyd, you were talking 

 about the evolving science. We have a base science. And you have 

 spoken to one feature, Mr. Thomas' comments, that you thought 

 were most enlightening. 



The one that I found most enlightening was the fact that he stat- 

 ed that there was absolutely no science that could support, at this 

 time, the actual prohibition of a management that involved any 

 logging. 



How can you, at one point, say that we have to base some of our 

 decisions on evolving science, and at the other point, we come in 



