32 



Under Secretary Lyons. I think we're close to getting that out 

 actually as I recall. So as soon as it is ready to go we'll make sure 

 you have a copy of it. 



Chairman Hansen. I see. Do you think it would be within your 

 heart to give us a copy of your new forest health policy before too 

 long, or is it up to that point? 



Under Secretary Lyons. It's not to that point yet, Mr. Chairman. 

 We don't really have anything to share just yet. 



Chairman Hansen. Can you give us a projected date of when we 

 may have the opportunity to go over that? 



Under Secretary Lyons. I can't tell you right offhand because I 

 haven't focused on the day-to-day review, but I assume we'll have 

 something later this fall. 



Chairman Hansen. I was reading the resolution by the Sierra 

 Club, and I love reading their stuff, where they pointed out in a 

 resolution that they didn't think there should be any timber har- 

 vesting in the United States. Do you go along with that? 



Under Secretary Lyons. No, that's not a policy that I agree with. 



Chairman Hansen. What's your comment on it? 



Under Secretary Lyons. Well I think, as illustrated by some of 

 the discussion we've had in the Subcommittee today, the forests in 

 many parts of the United States are the product of many years of 

 human intervention and management, and I think management is 

 an important part of returning forests to a more naturally function- 

 ing state, which I think is what the Club's ultimate goal is. 



We need to introduce management and use management to im- 

 prove forest health, to reduce fire risk, in places to improve wildlife 

 habitat and to reduce damage to watersheds from previous activi- 

 ties. Management is an important part of what we do. It's our busi- 

 ness, and I know we would subscribe to continuing to have the 

 tools and capability to manage the nation's forests and to improve 

 their sustainability for all the goods and services that come from 

 them. 



Chairman Hansen. Speaking of environmental groups, have any 

 of these environmental groups had privy to seeing this forest 

 health policy that you've come up with? 



Under Secretary Lyons. Not to my knowledge. 



Chairman Hansen. Were they instrumental at all in the develop- 

 ment of it? 



Under Secretary Lyons. Not that I'm aware of. 



Chairman Hansen. Recently the President of the United States 

 was up in Wyoming and made a declaration concerning the park, 

 Yellowstone Park. He was talking about a gold mine that is north 

 of the Park in the State of Montana and said that he would like 

 to trade that out, and I would assume from what he said that the 

 majority of that would be in the Forest Service, the trade would be. 

 Under the NEPA Act how much sufficiency time was spent on that 

 land trade? 



Under Secretary Lyons. We actually haven't consummated the 

 trade of assets as it stands now. That's under negotiation. 



Chairman HANSEN. I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. 



Under Secretary LYONS. We have not actually identified particu- 

 lar parcels. That discussion continues. There has been an agree- 

 ment on values essentially and how this process would proceed. We 



