21 



of course, hear all of the most extreme cases. And it appears basi- 

 cally that, or at least people feel that, the appeal process really 

 doesn't benefit them. 



Mrs. CUBIN. [presiding] Thank you very much, Mr. Unger. I don't 

 think that there is anyone else that wanted to ask questions. We 

 do thank you for being here and answering our questions and do 

 appreciate the progress that has been made in shortening the time 

 that the appeals process has taken. 



Mr. Unger. Thank you. 



Mrs. CUBIN. So hopefully you will continue in that direction. 

 Thank you very much. Next, I think we have Representative 

 Charles Taylor of North Carolina to give a statement for us. Wel- 

 come, Representative Taylor. 



STATEMENT OF HON. CHARLES TAYLOR, A U.S. 

 REPRESENTATIVE FROM NORTH CAROLINA 



Mr. Taylor. Madam Chairman, thank you for the privilege of 

 being able to come before this committee. There are so many mem- 

 bers on the committee that I admire for the work that you do. I 

 would like to start by saying as the only registered forester in Con- 

 gress, I am sometimes amazed at some of the information that is 

 put on the floor as being legitimate silviculture. 



One of the first problems I think that we need in working with 

 the public is that forestry is a science. People go to our best univer- 

 sities to get forestry degrees and graduate degrees. Just like medi- 

 cine or law or other professions, it takes a great deal of training. 



If you were to have a heart attack at the moment and a surgeon 

 were called, you would not at all let me perform an operation on 

 you, even though I have a doctorate. It is not a medical doctorate. 

 It is a J.D., and you would want the best cardiologist possible. 



And yet when we are talking about forest health and the envi- 

 ronment and very serious matters of silviculture, anyone that has 

 a bumper sticker that says, "Trees have feelings," seems to have 

 the same authority as people who have spent a lifetime of work 

 from our best universities and with forest experimentation. And 

 that is one of the problems we have in the concept of forestry itself. 

 It is a profession that takes a great deal of study and time. 



When we talk about appeals — and we all want the public's in- 

 volvement in government. We want it at every level. 1 have more 

 town meetings in my district probably than most. We speak over 

 1,000 times in the district in a two-year period. 



But if you think of building a highv/ay, when you determine, you 

 get public input as to whether or not this highway should be built, 

 where it should be built, where the money should be spent, where 

 the highway is going. You have numerous public hearings all along 

 the way to determine the construction of the highway. 



But once you have made the decision to build the highway, you 

 don't have the public out figuring the weights on the bridge. You 

 get a professional engineer who comes out and says this is how the 

 construction ought to take place of this bridge or this curve or 

 these matters. The general public is presumed that it has had its 

 opportunity to determine the direction of the policy, and then you 

 hire professionals to carry it out. 



