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I 



Dear Congressman Rose, 



I would like these comments and attached aocuments to be in- 

 cluded in the 0-f-ficial Record of the hearing held before the 

 Subcommitee on Specialty Crops and Natural Resources on March 9. 

 1994 regarding HR-2153, The Giant Sequoia Preservation Act of 

 1993. 



My name is Joe Fontaine. I live in Tehachapi California and 

 teach High School in Bakersfield California. My family has lived 

 in and near the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountains since the 1850s. 

 One of my earliest recollections as a child was visiting a grove 

 of Giant Seauoia trees in the 1930s. During my entire adult life 

 I have periodically visited various Giant Seauoia Groves in 

 Sequoia National Forest for recreation, quiet, and solitude. 

 I joined the Sierra Club in 1962 because of what 1 believed to be 

 over cutting in Sequoia National Forest. I served as the Sierra 

 Club National President from 1980-1982. 



I had been told by past Supervisors of Sequoia National Forest 

 that there were no plans to log in or around these groves and 

 thus I had no concern about their protection. Therefore, I was 

 outraged and dismayed to find in the 19a0s that the Forest Serv- 

 ice, with no warning to the public, was clearcutting in the 

 groves. Only giant specimen trees were spared in the midst of 

 complete removal of all vegetation down to the bare soil. The 

 Sierra Club at the request of its local memoers filed a lawsuit 

 that successfully stooped the clearcutting in the groves. 



In the late 1980s when the Forest Service proposed a new Land 

 Management Plan (LMP) for Sequoia National Forest I helped the 

 Sierra Club prepare an appeal of the LMP. Some of my statements 

 in that appeal are attached to this written testimony. 



The Forest Service, the Sierra Club, and tne other appellants 

 agreed to mediate their differences over the LMP. I was one of 

 the main negotiators for the Sierra Club. An agreement known as 

 the Mediated Settlement Agreement (MSA) was finally achieved and 

 I urged the Sierra Club to sign it which it did. Because I was 

 intimately involved in the negotiations 1 believe I am i n a 

 position to accurately characterize the MSA. Claims have been 

 made that by supporting HR-2153 before vou now the Sierra Club 

 and other environmental appelants 3.re violating the spirit of the 

 MSA. I categorically deny that charge. Opponents of HR-2153 are 

 misrepresenting the MSA in order to discredit tne bill and its 

 supporters. 



Before the LMP was announced the Sierra CluP had made several 

 legal challenges to timber sales in Sequoia National Forest. It 

 was our contention that the Forest Service had inadequate infor- 

 mation to prove those sales would not do permaent damage to the 

 Forest. The MSA was a compromise. We agreed to withdraw our legal 

 challenge to the timber sales if the Forest Service would do 

 additional studies to acquire the scientific information to 



