[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 75 (Wednesday, June 4, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H3279]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



 COMMEMORATING THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOREST SERVICE ORGANIC ACT 
                                OF 1897

  (Mrs. CHENOWETH asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. CHENOWETH. Mr. Speaker, today is the 100th anniversary of the 
national forests. Since the creation of the forest reserves in 1891 and 
the Organic Administration Act in June of 1897, we have put more than 
190 million acres into the forest system. These lands hold a wealth of 
resources and are managed by the most sophisticated forest practices 
and the most strenuous environmental laws in the world. While there are 
many management successes, there are also urgent problems.
  Last week I flew, with two of my colleagues, over 600,000 acres of 
the Boise National Forest destroyed by fires in the past 5 years. This 
scenario has been repeated in other forests, and scientists predict 
that it will occur again and again if we do not act now.
  All past and present Forest Service chiefs have advocated active 
management of our national forests. We must now provide the 
professional scientists and foresters with the ability to properly 
manage these lands in order to have a forest legacy left to our 
granchildren.

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