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TESTIMONY BY REPRESENTATIVE ANNA G. ESHOO "f^""*' """ 

 BEFORE THE AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE'S 

 SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPECIALTY CROPS AND NATURAL RESOURCES 

 on HJL 2153, THE CL^NTSEQUOLV PRESERVATION ACT 



ApriU, 1994 



Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to be here today to testify with my colleagues on behalf of H.R. 

 2153, the Giant Sequoia Preservation Act. This bill not only helps preserve the largest, most 

 majestic trees in the world, it saves American taxpayers tens of millions of dollars by putting 

 an end to below-cost timber sales in Sequoia National Forest. 



We aie all familiar with giant sequoia trees, which are thousands of years old and can be 

 almost 300 feet tall. But more important than their aesthetic beauty, these giants play a key 

 role in the very fragile ecosystem which is threatened by current Forest Service policies. 



.According to a 1989 Audubon Society study, there Were only 41,000 acres of thickly 

 wooded, old-growth forest left in the United States. There are even fewer acres now and 

 only ten percent of them are protected in wilderness areas. The Forest Service allowed more 

 than one million board feet of giant sequoia to be removed in 13 timber sales from sequoia 

 groves during the 1980s. The fact is, timber is being cut at more than twice the sustainable 

 rate because forest planners greatly overestimated potential growth rates. Even with the 

 Sequoia National Forest's terrible reforestation success rate, plannen assumed almost all the 

 forest would be reforested with only one planting. As a result, the forest is disappearing 

 faster than nature and people can replace it. 



Worst of all, taxpayen are subsidizing the destruction of the Giant Sequoia ecosystem. 

 Although limber companies pay the Forest Service an average of S3. 5 miUion per year for 

 the timber harvested in Sequoia National Forest, the Forest Service must spend up to S8.3 

 million per year to build logging roads and administer the sales. It is estimated that 

 taxpayers have spent S45 million in the last ten years to log the Sequoia National Forest, 

 which only provides one percent of the wood and wood fiber used annually in the U.S. 



H.R. 2153. of which I am an original cosponsor. would end the wasteful practice of below- 

 cost timber sales and finally protect the remaining groves of Giant Sequoia oy creating a 

 Giant Setquoia National Forest Preserve. It also provides for worker training, counseling and 

 placement, with an emphasis on potential new types of employment in recreation and 

 restoration of the ecosystem. 



Mr. Chairman, we must act now to preserve these areas for our posterity or risk the tragedy 

 of losing them forever. Thank you again for allowing me to address your subcommittee and 

 thank you for holding this important hearing. 



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