[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 47 (Tuesday, March 14, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H3132-H3133]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                             TIMBER SALVAGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Washington [Mr. Metcalf] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. METCALF. Mr. Speaker, this week the House will take up 
consideration of the emergency timber salvage sales amendment. This is 
an amendment designed to make use of timber that would otherwise be 
left to rot in the forest. The Forest Service estimates that over 20 
billion board feet of dead, dying, and downed timber is now in the 
forests of America.
  I am going to tell my colleagues the story of just one tree, one of 
thousands in western Washington alone. This tree, and many others like 
it, blew down on the Olympic Peninsula. This is not an uncommon 
occurrence on the Washington State coast. While this tree grew in a 
region that is perfect for its growth, the unique combination of heavy 
rainfall, wet soils, and frequent high winds cause trees like this 
giant 500 year old Douglas fir to blow down. Thousands of these blown 
down trees are rotting on the forest floor right now. This tree had the 
chance to be different. Mr. Jim Carlson can be seen in this picture. He 
tried to purchase this tree from the Forest Service to be cut up in his 
sawmill, which used to employ about 100 people. The Quinault Ranger 
District refused to sell this tree to him. Mr. Carlson then came back 
to the Forest Service and asked that he be sold this tree and two other 
downed trees for use in construction of an interpretive building that 
he wished to construct at his ranch as part of an economic 
diversification project. This would have allowed Mr. Carlson to get 
into the tourism business, which, if we had put him out of the sawmill 
business, is the least we could do for him. The request was denied in 
spite of the fact that a provision for this type of sale was contained 
in the Grays Harbor Federal Sustained Yield Unit Agreement.
  The taxpayers are the big losers in this story, though. This tree 
would have produced approximately 21,000 board feet of lumber. To put 
this in a better perspective, 800 board feet equals one cord. The sale 
of this tree by the Federal Government to Mr. Carlson would have 
brought the taxpayer between $10,000 and $20,000 for that one tree. Mr. 
Carlson would have been able to sell lumber from this tree for 
approximately $60,000 at retail rates. Conservatively this would be 
enough lumber to build two modest homes.
  The sad end to this tree came in a perfectly legal, though terribly 
wasteful, manner. An out-of-work timber worker, armed with a firewood 
permit, cut up this grand old giant for $5 per cord. This amounts to 
about $120 to the taxpayers of this Nation instead of $10,000 to 
$20,000.
  The rest of the story, as Paul Harvey likes to say, is that this past 
year, this timber worker had his home sold on the steps of the county 
courthouse for $931.91 in back taxes. At the same time, while the 
Quinault Ranger District would not sell this tree for lumber, they did 
not have enough money to purchase the diesel fuel to run their road 
grader.
  Now environmentalists claim that these trees are necessary for the 
nutrients they provide for forest floor. Yet forestry scientists say 
that 90 percent of the nutrient value is found in the crown of the 
tree, while 80 percent of the fiber is found in the trunk. The 80 
percent that we need and can be put to good use contains less than 10 
percent of the nutrient value. It is possible to have the majority of 
the fiber we seek from these trees, and at the same time leave the 
majority of the nutrients behind.
 This is a case where you can have your cake and eat it, too.
   [[Page H3133]] Mr. Speaker, there are thousands of trees just like 
this one in the Pacific Northwest. When in full operation, Mr. Carlson 
could run his mill with only 150 trees like this one each year. He 
would employ 60 direct, full time workers, with a payroll of over $1 
million from a yearly sales total of $7.5 to $9 million. He would pay 
$200,000 to $400,000 per year in corporate income tax, and would pay $1 
to $2 million to the Forest Service in stumpage fees. His employees 
would pay personal income tax on the over $1 million. In addition, Mr. 
Carlson would employ up to 40 other people in subcontractor positions. 
These would be the timber cutters and haulers that would get these logs 
out of the forest. Sadly, If these giants are not harvested within 2 
years of being blown down, they are of no value as timber, and thus, no 
value to us as taxpayers. This is part of the emergency situation that 
we face in our forests. Unless we pass this important legislation, 
these giant trees will rot back into the forest floor from which they 
sprang. We must use common sense to make the best use of our forest 
resources.

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