[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 70 (Wednesday, June 3, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E994]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        ``DECLINE OF THE ASPEN''

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BOB SCHAFFER

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 3, 1998

  Mr. BOB SCHAFFER of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, if chaos befalls the 
Forest Service, and politicians don't care to hear, should Westerners 
persist in making noise? With apologies to Bishop Berkeley, the answer 
is a resounding ``yes!'' That is, at least according to Colorado's Club 
20. Celebrating its 45th anniversary, Club 20 is an organization of 
counties, communities, businesses, conservationists, individuals, and 
associations cast throughout Colorado's 20 western counties. The group 
was created by Wester Slope business leaders to speak out on issues 
affecting rural economies and life in Colorado's mountain regions.
  The U.S. Forest Service's performance is the subject of a just-
released special report, produced by Club 20's Research Foundation. The 
missive is a must-read for anyone seriously concerned about maintaining 
a vibrant forest system and healthy environment in the Rocky Mountain 
West.
  The report should also serve as a bright wake-up call to forestry 
professionals and lawmakers, but most of all to Forest Service higher-
ups in Washington, DC.
  Entitled ``Decline of the Aspen,'' the report documents the jeopardy 
Colorado's forests face due to years of mismanagement by the U.S. 
Forest Service. Citing the serious shortage of accurate scientific data 
on issues that affect the West, the foundation points out how the 
Forest Service has strayed from managing for multiple use and sustained 
yield.
  One casualty of poor management is Colorado's aspen inventory. Aspen 
stands have declined at an alarming rate, causing researchers to 
predict most of Colorado's aspen trees will disappear within the next 
40 to 50 years.
  Maintaining and restoring aspen is of paramount importance to 
Colorado. Not only do the trees help entice $6 billion worth of 
tourists each year, but aspen communities sustain tremendously high 
biodiversity covering thousands of acres across the Wester Slope.
  The aspen, however, are just one indication of the harmful effect of 
poor planning and misdirected leadership within the Forest Service. In 
turning away from its ``land-of-many-uses'' philosophy, the Forest 
Service has engaged a policy of declining resources uses. Such a policy 
threatens the health of our public lands and the vitality of our 
western communities.
  There has been an unprecedented increase in the annual net growth of 
national forests since the turn of the century. According to the 
report, without responsible harvesting, thinning or prescribed burns, 
timber inventory accumulates to the point where healthy growth is 
impeded, and stands become susceptible to wildfires, beetle 
infestations and disease.
  The Club 20 report concludes that the Forest Service has suffered 
from a lack of direction, if not a lack of a clear mission. Political 
pressure, rather than science-based objectives for healthy, diverse 
forests, often motivates management decisions or at best favors poor 
ones by default.
  Congress would do well to consider the findings of Club 20. Recent 
hearings by the House Resources Committee have focused on the appalling 
performance and financial audits of the Forest Service by the General 
Accounting Office (GAO). Club 20 clearly spells out how the GAO-exposed 
Forest Service deficiencies at the national level are directly 
threatening life in the West for communities and ecosystems.
  Though long on criticism of federal agents, Club 20's report is 
replete with constructive proposals and thoughtful solutions. The work 
thoroughly documents the need for an open budget process, private 
timber management strategies, sound fire policies, professional 
staffing, and aggressive state leadership in getting federal forest 
management back on track.
  Moreover, Club 20 correctly asserts the federal government's moral 
obligation as steward to vast public landscapes. ``Federal ownership 
should imply federal responsibility to proper management.''
  Indeed, with 75 percent of Western Colorado under federal ownership, 
mismanagement is intolerable to the people of the region whose 
livelihood and quality of life depend upon these public resources. From 
a forest health perspective, the environment and the economy are 
inextricably linked.
  Club 20 should be commended for its balanced analysis, and for 
extending its hand of leadership and partnership in restoring the 
health of Western forests. In fact, the very future of the Forest 
Service may well be defined by its ability to accept the offer and 
thereby resume its historic mission of managing the forests for the 
benefit of forests, and for us all.

                          ____________________