20 



fornia Spotted Owl repulse me for their obvious political motive and lack of profes- 

 sional basis. 



Although the DEIS has not be distributed for review, I have read what is avail- 

 able, including preprints of (1) the Summary DEIS, (2) Appendix L, Direction for 

 Managing California Spotted Owl Habitat, (3) Appendix O, Aquatic/Riparian Con- 

 servation Strategy, and (4) Appendix Q, Consideration of New Information, The Si- 

 erra Nevada Ecosystem Project. Further, I have attended briefings by members of 

 the CalOwl Team given to the Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project (SNEP) science 

 team and a 6-hour overview for Sierran national forest managers. 



From these reviews, I conclude that the CalOwl Team has had adequate access 

 to current scientific information, and has seriously reviewed relevant information 

 compiled in SNEP reports. Both teams worked with many of the same, databases 

 and science base. The scope of the two projects is not the same, and thus different 

 topics are addressed. Further, interpretations of scientific information and implica- 

 tions for management in some cases differ among the reports. This is the nature 

 of science and land management. 



The public, including the scientific community, deserves an opportunity to review 

 the DEIS now. Only after serious review of the full documents can the management 

 conclusions and scientific interpretations be adequately evaluated. 



I find it disgraceful that stewardship of our Sierran national forests should be- 

 come a political fate, and the professional efforts of scientists and managers dis- 

 regarded. 



Sincerely, 



Constance I. Millar, Ph.D, 



Research Geneticist. 



Chairman Hansen. Secretary Lyons, I appreciate you coming in 

 today. That middle one is the hot seat. 



Under Secretary Lyons. I appreciate this opportunity to join you, 

 Mr. Chairman. 



Chairman HANSEN. Chief, do you want to join us up here, if you 

 would. 



Under Secretary LYONS. If I could, I would like to have Jack and 

 Mary Jo Lavin, who is the Director of Fire, to join me, if that's all 

 right. 



Chairman Hansen. Great. Nice to have you both here. I appre- 

 ciate it. The floor is yours, sir. 



STATEMENT OF THE HON. JAMES R. LYONS, UNDER SEC- 

 RETARY FOR NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT, 

 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR ACCOMPANIED BY: JACK 

 WARD THOMAS, CHIEF OF THE FOREST SERVICE and MARY 

 JO LAVIN, DIRECTOR OF THE FIRE AND AVIATION MANAGE- 

 MENT STAFF 



Under Secretary LYONS. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

 I appreciate the opportunity to join you this afternoon. 



As I indicated for the record, I'm accompanied by Dr. Jack Ward 

 Thomas, Chief of the Forest Service, and Mary Jo Lavin, who is the 

 Director of Fire and Aviation on the State and private staff. 



We all know the fire situation in 1996, and I probably don't need 

 to elaborate, but let me simply state that as of September 9th, 

 88,142 wildfires have burned 5 million almost 800,000 acres across 

 all ownerships nationwide. Of this approximately 20 percent of the 

 acreage burned is on national forest system lands. 



These numbers, while the highest in recent memory, are gen- 

 erally consistent with Forest Service experience during the past 

 decade. Clearly we are facing a prolonged period of abnormally 

 high fire occurrence for a number of reasons. 



