270 



GEORGE M. LEONARD 



July 25, 1996 



Honorable Don Young 



Chairman 



Committee on Resources 



United States House of Representatives 



Washington. DC 20515 



Dear Mr. Chairman: 



This letter responds to your request at the hearing last week that I submit my suggestions 

 for changes in the Environmental Improvement Timber Contract Extension Act of 1996. My 

 suggestions follow: 



Section 2 (a) (1) is not technically correct in that it applies the Scribner Log Rule to 

 utility log volumes. The Scribner Rule is a log rule which measures the portion of a log which is 

 suited for the manufacture of lumber. By accepted definition, utility logs are those not suitable 

 for lumber production. Further, as written the provision would effective preclude a reasonable 

 charge for utility logs. A better approach would be to specify the volume requirements of 

 sections 2 (c) (3) and 2 (e) as 192,500,000 board feet net scribner long-log scale for all logs per 

 year. This would make it clear that the Forest service can charge for utility logs on an 

 appropriate scale. 



Section 2 (a) (4) confuses the concept of appraising timber with the concept of offering 

 timber which meets mid-market criteria. The timber offered to KPC under the contract should 

 meet mid-market criteria. However, the appraisal of all timber offered under the contract should 

 be done using normal Forest Service appraisal methods in use on the Tongass. I recommend 

 that section 2 (a) (4) be rewritten to separate and clarify these concepts. 



Section 2 (c) (4) should be revised to make it clear that the Forest Service can collect 

 Knutson-Vandenburg (K-V) funds or other agreed deposits. In addition, 1 would recommend 

 striking the word independent from the appraisal requirement. As noted above, the timber in the 

 long-term contract should be appraised using normal Forest Service appraisal methods in use on 

 the Tongass National Forest. 



Section 2 (c) (5) needs to be revised to make it clear that all contiguous management 

 areas are being grouped to measure proportionality. Subsections (B) and (C) should reference 

 the maps and rotation periods used in the current Tongass Land Management Plan. 



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