[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 87 (Friday, June 13, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1244]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 PROVIDING FURTHER CLARITY AS TO THE INTENT OF CONGRESS WITH REGARD TO 
              HR 1904, THE HEALTHY FORESTS RESTORATION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. SCOTT McINNIS

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 12, 2003

  Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, last month, the House passed the Healthy 
Forests Restoration Act on an overwhelming bipartisan basis. The bill 
creates a number of new procedures and programs to deal with the 
nation's exploding forest health crisis. Importantly, Title VI of the 
bill would authorize and direct federal land managers to establish 
early detection programs for insect and disease infestations, with an 
emphasis on hardwood forests, so that agencies can isolate and treat 
adverse conditions before they reach epidemic levels.
  Even though the bill was first considered and marked up in the 
Resources Committee, the House Agriculture Committee, under the 
outstanding leadership of Chairman Bob Goodlatte, received primary 
referral. While associating myself with the able and accurate work in 
the Agriculture Committee's Report on H.R. 1904, as the bill's primary 
author I want to insert some additional language into H.R. 1904's 
legislative history so as to provide further clarity as to the 
intention of Congress in Title VI.
  Title VI of H.R. 1904 authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to 
establish a program that uses geospatial and information management 
technologies (remote sensing imaging and decision support systems) to 
inventory, monitor, characterize, assess, and identify forest stands 
(and potential forest stands) in the southern and eastern portions of 
the United States, with special emphasis on hardwood forest types. The 
approach for this effort includes utilizing NASA remote sensing 
technology, emerging geospatial capabilities in research activities, 
validating techniques using application demonstrations, and integrating 
results into pilot operational systems. Important issues to be 
addressed in this region of the U.S. include, but are not limited to, 
early detection, identification and assessment of environmental threats 
(insect, disease, invasive species, fire and weather-related risks, 
other episodic events), loss or degradation of forests, degradation of 
stand quality due to inadequate forest regeneration practices, 
quantification of carbon uptake rates, and other counter management 
practices. Developing a comprehensive early warning system for 
potential catastrophic environmental threats to Eastern forests would 
significantly increase the likelihood that managers could isolate and 
treat any such outbreak before it gets out of control. Such a system 
could prevent the kind of epidemic, like that of the American chestnut 
blight in the first half of the twentieth century, which could be 
environmentally and economically devastating to Eastern forests.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1904 is as important as any environmental 
legislation that this House has passed in a very long time. Title VI in 
the bill is a critical piece of that landmark forest health program.

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