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The logging orchestrated by the Forest Service in Sequoia National Forest's 

 sequoia groves during the 1980s was at best a deed of arrogant intemperance. At worst, it 

 was an act of environmental criminality - both literally, since it violated this country's 

 most fundamental environmental laws, and figtiratively, since it grievously offended so 

 many sensibilities. 



Not everyone agrees with that view, of course, but generally those who would 

 dispute it have a financial stake in the matter. Unfortunately, that includes the Forest 

 Service, a bureaucracy whose economic survival has depended not on Multiple Use, 

 which is its legal mandate, but on harvesting timber. That budgetary reality has resulted 

 in over cutting and a reckless disregard for environmental precautions on national forests 

 throughout the country. Sequoia National Forest, tragicaUy, is no exception. 



The current Administration has sought to end the "timber wars" of the last 

 decade by app(natmg more responsible leadership in the Forest Service and by adapting 

 "ecosystem management" which seeks to balance commercial, recreational and 

 preservation purposes. 



A word of caution is necessary, however. Ecosystems are complex. They are not 

 often well understood. They do not oftra have well defined boundaries. Moreover, as 

 an enviroimiental attorney, I know that science is often shades of gray. 



Experts testified on both sides of the issue in 1992 at the congressional oversight 

 hearings on the protecticxi of the sequoia. It was clear that many gaps existed in the data 

 relevant to Sequoia protection. One thing, however, was evident You don't have to cut a 

 giant sequoia to kill it 



