44 



says that has to be done in the next three months and that could 

 be done under a standard process. Those trees are not going sour. 

 They might burn and they might have an insect hit, but there is 

 nothing going to happen within the next three months. So there 

 was no reason we really could not proceed under full appeal proc- 

 ess. 



Mr. DOOLITTLE. OK, but see that to me, and I'm not going to ask 

 you, and you can even vigorously object, but that to me is an un- 

 friendly interpretation of the law if you're trying to maximize the 

 salvage operation, because you and I both know that when there 

 are these forest fires there are going to be a lot of good trees 

 burned up in the process, too, and that to be is typical of this Ad- 

 ministration's approach where they want to make everybody feel 

 good about what they're doing, but in reality behind the scenes 

 they're erecting every roadblock possible to carry this out. I'm very 

 disappointed in the effect the salvage law has had, particularly in 

 California. I guess in other areas it has had a good impact, but 

 we're dying on the vine. 



And you know, Chief, once these mills close up shop, I mean it's 

 not like they show up some day and start it up again. We're losing 

 the infrastructure, and we're becoming welfare havens. There is 

 nothing for people to do. If they want to live in a beautiful area 

 like that they're going to do something related to the public re- 

 source. I mean recreation, yes, that's a part of it, but that's only 

 a part of it and you're going to have to have the high-paying jobs 

 involved with the timber industry. 



Unless Mr. Herger has further questions, I think I'm just going 

 to wrap it up. 



Mr. Herger. No. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. DOOLITTLE. I thank our witnesses for being here. I think 

 these are important issues. I know you're frustrated, and I'm frus- 

 trated. You're right, you need a clear direction. The Congress has 

 not been to the point where it can give a clear direction. The Ad- 

 ministration is not giving a clear direction, although I guess they 

 could if they chose to. Many of us would like the Congress to give 

 a clear direction, but we're not strong enough yet without the sup- 

 port from the Administration where we could provide that direction 

 and actually send a bill to the President's desk, and probably the 

 kind of bill I would send he would veto anyway. 



So I guess we're going to fight it out this November, but I cer- 

 tainly hope the issues become clear to people as to which direction 

 we're going to go in, but you're right, the Forest Service is caught 

 in the middle. Your charter is quite different than what you're 

 being expected to perform today, and there is an awful lot of frus- 

 tration with the present policies in the meantime. 



It's my view that we're going to have a lot of very serious forest 

 fires because the situation is out of hand and, yes, you're right, it 

 didn't begin with the Clinton Administration. I am not sure exactly 

 when in my mind it began, but it goes back to sometime I think 

 into the 1970's and probably having to do with these broad, ill-de- 

 fined laws like NEPA and there are two or three other regulatory 

 acts specifically for the national forests and the interaction with 

 the Endangered Species Act. 



