[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 128 (Tuesday, September 23, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1824-E1825]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     INTRODUCTION OF THE FOREST RECOVERY AND PROTECTION ACT OF 1997

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ROBERT SMITH

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 23, 1997

  Mr. SMITH of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, today, I am introducing the Forest 
Recovery and Protection Act of 1997 to address the grave forest health 
problems that exist, not only in my home State of Oregon, but across 
the United States.
  I am delighted to be joined by Representative Charlie Stenholm, 
ranking Democrat on the Agriculture Committee, Representative Larry 
Combest, who chairs the Subcommittee on Forests, Resource Conservation 
and Research, as well as Representatives Bishop, Callahan, Emerson, and 
Peterson (PA), who are original cosponsors of the bill. A companion to 
this bill will also be introduced in the Senate by Senator Gordon Smith 
of Oregon.
  That this bill enjoys bipartisan support in the House, and equally 
substantial support in the Senate, indicates both the significance of 
our growing forest health crisis and the commitment of Members in both 
Chambers of Congress and on both sides of the aisle to address the 
issue in a productive and cooperative way.
  This bill is the result of six Agriculture Committee hearings on the 
health of America's forest, in which the committee listened to and 
learned from the administration, scientists, academics, lawmakers, 
State foresters, land managers, environmentalists, and the forest 
products industry.
  It establishes a nationwide, scientific, organized, efficient, and 
timely strategy for addressing forest health concerns in all regions of 
the country. This legislation is desperately needed, because, as our 
hearing record attests:
  The long-term health of America's forest is threatened by wildfire, 
disease, insect infestations, and the loss of habitat.
  Each region of the country has significant and unique forest health 
problems requiring individualized and carefully tailored remedies.
  A tremendous body of scientific knowledge exists that both documents 
declining forest conditions, and promotes strategies for land managers 
to restore and recover vulnerable forest resources.
  Delayed or passive management of our forests will certainly result in 
log-term resource damage. The most effective way to reverse this grave 
trend is through active, scientific, timely management.
  The Chief of the Forest Service has testified that 40 million acres 
of national forest are at imminent risk of being lost to catastrophic 
wildfire. Yet, we are investing just $50 million per year in on-the-
ground wildfire prevention, while spending as much as $1 billion per 
year fighting wildfire.
  This is backward. Unless we invest more in prevention, wildfires will 
continue to increase in frequency and intensity, destroying human life 
and property and degrading habitat, watershed values, and the quality 
of our air and water.
  The Forest Recovery and Protection Act sets forth a strategy that 
will assist the Forest Service in rolling up its shirt sleeves and 
tackling chronic forest conditions in an organized and timely way and 
within the parameters of all existing environmental laws and forest 
plans.
  This legislation creates a national, 5-year program to restore forest 
health by directing the Forest Service to systematically identify and 
prioritize forest recovery areas at greatest risk of loss to wildfire, 
insect infestations and disease, and conduct recovery projects in these 
areas.
  To assist the agency in identifying and ranking the areas at greatest 
risk, a new scientific panel is established in an advisory capacity. 
Because adequate monitoring of management activities is so important, 
this panel is also charged with providing recommendations on a 
monitoring plan for the national program.
  Prior to implementation of the 5-year program, the bill directs the 
agency to implement advance forest recovery projects. These projects 
will proceed in areas where the risk of destruction to human life and 
property or of serious resource degradation is obvious and imminent and 
where extensive scientific assessments have already been completed, and 
treatments can be designed and implemented quickly.
  The bill also provides a new source of funding to assist the Forest 
Service in implementing advance recovery projects and administering the 
national program. In order to maximize agency accountability for the 
use of this new funding, the bill requires that the fund's availability 
be tied to timely decisionmaking and reporting by the agency. This will 
create an incentive for the agency to act in a time-sensitive and 
responsible manner.
  The bill sets a standard of accountability for the agency consistent 
with the requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act. 
The Forest Service is required to report both to Congress and the 
American public on the results achieved by the projects conducted under 
this act. In addition, the USDA Inspector General and the General 
Accounting Office

[[Page E1825]]

are required to conduct a comprehensive audit of the national program 
to aid Congress in its determination of whether to continue the program 
in the long term.

  Finally, the bill requires more frequent and standardized inventories 
of forest lands through an existing Forest Service program called 
Forest Inventory and Analysis. This provision will assist private, 
Federal, and other public land managers in planning and management 
decisions through the availability of the best and more current 
scientific data.
  I look forward to receiving thoughtful and constructive comment on 
this bill as it moves through the committee process. I am confident 
that, with a bipartisan effort in the Agriculture Committee and the 
cooperation of the administration, we will produce a finished plan of 
action for improving and protecting our country's forest resources both 
in the short term and for generations to come

                          ____________________