13 



risk of catastrophic fires. Rather than allowing local forest man- 

 agers to use this tool to prevent fire, the Clinton Administration 

 consist with its policy of "Washington knows best," first delayed 

 implementing the law and then blocked it altogether. 



On July 2nd of this year Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman 

 directed local forest managers in California to cancel 85 million 

 board feet of the 103 million board feet of additional salvage sales 

 prepared in the State under the law. As a result the sales you see 

 in these photos will never go forward even though the local Forest 

 Supervisor describes these forest conditions as "a true emergency 

 of vast magnitude" and has appealed to Washington directly for 

 special permission to treat the forests. So far Washington has 

 stone-walled her request. 



Then on August 20th of this year the Clinton Administration 

 took its command and control forest policy to an unprecedented ex- 

 treme when White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta and Sec- 

 retary of Agriculture Dan Glickman suppressed and refused to re- 

 lease to the public a draft environmental statement on the Califor- 

 nia spotted owl. This document, which has been four years and $5 

 million in the making, would give local managers more flexibility 

 to prevent catastrophic wildfire in California's Sierra Nevada for- 

 ests. 



The billion dollar national environmental lobby has applauded 

 the move. However, scientists and the public, who have been de- 

 nied access to the document, have not. In fact, six key scientists 

 from the Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project team have condemned 

 the Administration's action stating that they are "repulsed for their 

 obvious political motive and lack of professional basis, 1 " that they 

 are "foolish and an obvious way of avoiding tough decisions that 

 would not be popular with everyone, 2 " and that they "seriously 

 cheapen the scientific work to date. 3 " Local newspapers in the Si- 

 erra Nevada have described the White House move as "predicated 

 on the fact that when tough ecological decisions arise President 

 Clinton listens to hard-core environmentalists first and all others 

 second. 4 " 



This Congress must not tolerate such disrespect for science, the 

 professionals within the U.S. Forest Service and the public. Our 

 forests must be managed by environmental science, not political 

 science. Otherwise dangerous forest conditions like these in the Six 

 Rivers National Forest will explode in catastrophic wildfires that 

 will reduce our forests to a lifeless moonscape. 



I call upon President Clinton to do the responsible thing, to allow 

 local forest managers to fully implement the timber salvage law 

 and to immediately release the revised draft environmental impact 

 statement for the California spotted owl for public review and com- 

 ment. Our California forests and forest communities are waiting. 



Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Chairman Hansen. Thank you, Mr. Herger. 



[Hon. Wally Herger submitted the following for the record.] 



1 August 27, 1996 letter to Dr. James Space, Station Director, USDA Forest Service, PSW Re- 

 search Station, Albany, CA from Constance Millar, Research Geneticist, SNEP science team 

 member, and former Chair of the SNEP Coordinating Committee. 



2 September 6, 1996 press release from six prominent members of the SNEP scientific team. 



3 Ibid. 



4 Feather River Bulletin, August 28, 1996, page B8. 



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