[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 67 (Thursday, May 25, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E862]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               TIME TO REORGANIZE THE U.S. FOREST SERVICE

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                             HON. JOE SKEEN

                             of new mexico

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 25, 2000

  Mr. SKEEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce legislation that is 
long overdue and desperately needed. My legislation, the 2000 U.S. 
Forest Service Organization Reform bill is simple legislation. Under 
this proposal the current Regional Offices of the U.S. Forest Service 
(USFS) would be eliminated. In the terms of organization structure they 
would be replaced by state USFS offices. Each state would have a state 
director, just as several other agencies within the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture operate. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), in the 
Department of the Interior also is organized in this manner.
  Authority would be granted for the establishment of up to six 
technical support centers as well as allowing the USFS to have multi-
state directors where the Federal forest presence is minor. The Forest 
Service office for a state would be responsible for the administration 
of National Forest System lands within the state.
  I have come to the conclusion that I can no longer wait for the USFS 
to do the right thing. I can no longer wait for them to solve their 
management problems. I can no longer wait to see our forests suffer 
from neglect, mismanagement and misuse. This administration's record on 
addressing the major issues facing our forests on these issues is 
dismal. Reinventing government in the USFS today means that nobody is 
in charge. It means forest plans that nobody can understand. It means 
lawsuits and court decisions that destroy people's livelihoods and 
damage their families irreparably. And now it means catastrophic fires 
that cost millions of dollars and endangered the life and property of 
our citizens that live in and near our forests.
  USFS state offices will be the first step in bringing accountability 
into this agency of government. This office will be closer to the 
people in the state. The Director will interface directly and often 
with state officials, local government and concerned citizens. The 
Director will be accountable for what happens in the forest of the 
respective states. No longer would the USFS be able to hide in their 
regional offices. No longer would they be able to ignore problems in 
the respective states. The BLM manages more land than the USFS. The BLM 
planning program has been a model of unbridled success when compared to 
the disastrous Forest Service process. Part of the reason for this 
success is having a more responsive State office.
  I would add at this point I have met numerous excellent USFS 
employees and I have been continually puzzled as to why these good 
people cannot make this agency work? Why, year after year, do we have 
study after study that talks about the mismanagement? I have finally 
decided that it is the structure of the USFS that is smothering the 
abilities of the individual employees and stopping them from solving 
the problems on our Forest Service lands. Today, we have ``teams'' and 
``team leaders'' in government but not supervisors. Let me repeat, we 
have teams and team leaders, but not supervisors. Our forests deserve 
attention not unsupervised teams. We need people who will be responsive 
to the needs of our natural heritage--not to the faceless bureaucracy 
that currently exists in the Forest Service.
  There is no doubt that the USFS will say the cost of implementing 
this legislation is too expensive. It will not be too expensive or more 
expensive. Not if they do it right. They need to stop trying to protect 
their sacred regional office turf. If USDA agencies can do it and BLM 
can do it, then so can the USFS.
  We need an agency that listens to the people. We need an agency that 
responds to the communities most impacted by forest policy. We also 
need funding that is used on the ground projects that improve the 
health of our forests. We do not need funding that disappears in the 
Washington, D.C. office and in the Regional offices of the USFS. I ask 
the Congress when will we say about the total mismanagement ``enough is 
enough''?

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