no 



There is con^lete agreement within the scientific community, 

 the Forest Service, and the pxoblic at large that the groves 

 must be preserved. The question is how. Two general 

 approaches have been advanced. One approach, represented by 

 H.R. 2153, recommends withdrawing the groves into a very large 

 preserve that excludes or limits prescribed treatments designed 

 to perpetuate the groves, such as fuel reduction, seedbed 

 preparation, and competing vegetation removal. It should be 

 noted that although the Reserve would encon5>ass more than 

 400,000 acres, only about 40,000 acres, or 10 percent of the 

 proposed Reserve currently supports giant sequoias. 



The other approach suggests that some management is needed to 

 perpetuate the groves. This approach retains flexibility to 

 deal with problems of fuel buildup, dense understory 

 vegetation, risks from drought, insects and disease, and 

 increased recreation use in the Sierra Nevada region that 

 together present greater risks of human caused wildfire. 

 This approach recognizes that these are dynamic ecosystems 

 which will change euid that preservation in a strict sense will 

 not maintain sequoias. 



One of my key goals as Chief is to quickly and successfully 

 implement ecosystem management in the National Forests cmd 

 Grasslands. Ecosystem management suggests that we take a 

 broader view. At a time when we are recognizing adjacent lands 



