[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 120 (Friday, September 11, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1700]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


 TRIBUTE TO COLORADO TIMBER INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION AND THE INTERMOUNTAIN 
                                FORESTRY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BOB SCHAFFER

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 11, 1998

  Mr. BOB SCHAFFER of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay 
tribute to the Colorado Timber Industry Association (CTIA) and 
Intermountain Forestry for their hard work, dedication and service to 
the people of Colorado. Gary and Cathy Jones of CTIA, as well as Diane 
Hoppe and Tom Troxell with Intermountain Forestry have been good 
advocates for common sense and good policy within the Forest Service. 
During the August recess, Gary and Cathy Jones of CTIA organized and 
led a tour of the Routt Blowdown near Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The 
tour was flawlessly done and informative. Representatives from the 
local counties, the state legislature, Club 20, the Forest Service and 
some of Colorado's congressional offices were present.
  Colorado has 3,148,182 acres of wilderness. Of the 2,841,000 acres 
suitable for harvest, only 12,354 acres were harvested in 1996. There 
is a total of 13,867,569 acres of national forest lands in Colorado 
(excluding the National Grasslands). Forest timber sale targets have 
decreased roughly 50% since 1990 (excluding some of this year's salvage 
sales). Meanwhile, forest growth has out paced harvest on suitable 
lands by roughly 400%. Logging is responsible for only 2% of the tree 
mortality in Colorado. Disease and insects are the most well-known 
causes of tree mortality. Due to political pressure, the Forest Service 
will build only 8 miles of new roads and salvage will be excluded from 
``roadless'' areas. Unfortunately, it seems political pressure has 
affected how the Forest Service will deal with the Routt blowdown too.
  The Forest Service has received $4.8 million from the emergency 
supplemental appropriations bills, but not enough has gone to on-the-
ground management. I was dismayed to learn that the Forest Service 
proposes only to salvage 7% of the 20,000 acre blowdown. The Forest 
Service proposes to leave the vast majority of good timber to insects 
and decay. Even more alarming is that a vast tinderbox of dead and 
dying trees lies waiting for a careless match or lightning strike to 
ignite.
  Salvage operations will help, but many areas that could have been 
harvested economically with on-the-ground techniques are set-aside for 
helicopters, or left untouched. Thankfully, Frank Cross, the Forest 
Service Blowndown Team Leader committed to a demonstration project to 
explore other logging methods should the Jetstream Sale fail to attract 
much attention. I am hopeful that the Forest Service will look past 
what is politically popular and take more aggressive steps to deal with 
this natural disaster. I thank Gary and Cathy Jones for all their hard 
work on this issue. It is clear they are strong advocates for active 
management, forest health and diversity. I commend them for their 
efforts and look forward to working with them in the future.

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