27 



You can disagree and you can work on fine points as to what 

 type of road we might have or where we are going to position it 

 or what type of logging we might do. But the overall need for man- 

 agement is there. To come out as the Sierra Club has done against 

 all harvest in our national forests is the most unenvironmental 

 practice, I think, we could do in the whole country. 



Mrs. CUBIN. Thank you very much. Did you have anjrthing, Wes? 



Mr. COOLEY. Yes. Mr. Taylor, you and I were, you know, really 

 involved in Public Law 104-19. I look at information provided here. 

 I see the appeal process that we go through here. I know in the 

 State of Oregon we have got literally hundreds of appeals, and yet 

 they are not listed. 



But that is not the process. The process is a working base and 

 your involvement as a silviculturist is a working base. It appears 

 that even though we passed a public law and was signed by the 

 President, we are not really totally getting any real benefit. There 

 is some benefit, but basically they are not going to meet their goals 

 because of the way they account. 



As you know, the accounting system in Congress is the old ac- 

 counting system, not like anything anywhere else, and this appeal 

 process that we talk about under Public Law 104-19 is not work- 

 ing. Have you, as a sponsor and the carrier of that bill, had many 

 discussions with people in the field about how the law is being im- 

 plemented as far as the appeal process is concerned? 



Mr. Taylor. I have. I know you carried out hearings, and I want 

 to commend you for your work because you were a principal author 

 of that legislation and in many other areas in silviculture. The law 

 is being applied in a sketchy fashion, so to speak, and, of course, 

 it has been in existence a little over a year. 



In the Southeast, we are finding it is working reasonably well. 

 In the Pisgah, Nantahala, Chattahoochee, those forests are using 

 it to clean up salvage problems all the way from disease to wind 

 damage and other areas. We have had sales of several million 

 board feet in each of those forests that I am familiar with that 

 have been put together. 



In some parts of the country, it is not being used very well. It 

 depends a lot, I think, on the Forest Service. The Forest Service 

 is downsizing. Many of the people who were involved in silviculture 

 have been somewhat dismayed and have chosen to retire. 



So unless a district has foresters there who are interested in 

 managing the forest and harvesting, then you are not going to have 

 the drive in that supervisor's area to implement salvage as much 

 as you are if you have someone who understands the need for har- 

 vest. And that is probably the difference that I see around the na- 

 tion. 



It depends a lot on that national supervisor's staff and composi- 

 tion that he or she has, and that is why I think it has been 

 sketchy. I don't think they will meet the goals we set out, but they 

 are moving ahead. And the salvage legislation has given some hope 

 to those people who practice modern silviculture in the forest that 

 we are returning some sanity back to the management of our for- 

 ests. And we are not moving in the direction as we were that the 

 Sierra Club advocates. 



