[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 174 (Tuesday, November 25, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S15971]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          JOSEPH W. McCRACKEN

 Mr. SMITH. Mr. President, I rise today to acknowledge the 
passing of Joseph W. McCracken on October 26, 2003.
  For over 4 decades, Mr. McCracken represented the forest products 
industry in Oregon and other western States, as the Executive Vice 
President of Westen Forest Industries Association. Mr. McCracken 
represented a sector of the industry that I hold in particularly high 
esteem--a sector comprised of small, family-owned sawmills and plywood 
plants.
  These are the mills that traditionally depended on our Federal forest 
lands for their supply of timber. These are the mills that are located 
in small rural communities where they provide the backbone of the local 
economy.
  During his years of service to his industry, Joe McCracken was a 
fixture in his town and served as an advisor and mentor to many of our 
predecessors in this body. Warren Magnusen, Scoop Jackson, Mark 
Hatfield, Bob Packwood, Frank Church, Jim McClure, Jim Melcher, and 
other stalwarts of our western Senate delegation looked to Joe for 
counsel and advice on public land issues affecting his constituents.
  He represented them with a passion and commitment that was exemplary. 
Joe McCracken was a visionary and was responsible for creating and 
influencing countless pieces of legislation and regulations that 
benefitted his industry, the people that work in it and the communities 
that depend on it.
  The Small Business Set Aside Program, as just one example, assured 
small, family-owned mills a fair share of the Federal timber sold from 
our national forests and lands manager by the Bureau of Land 
Management.
  Joe McCracken was a pioneer in crafting the policies and regulations 
affecting the Oregon and California Railroad lands in western Oregon, 
today known as the ``O & C'' lands. He did this both as a professional 
staff person for the Department of the Interior and as an advocate for 
his trade association.
  Under Joe McCracken's representation, the small, family-owned mills 
throughout the west prospered. Many of them are under second and even 
third generation management. Unfortunately, many of them no longer 
exist.
  After Joe's retirement in the early 90s, a sea change in Federal 
policies regulating the management of public forests unfolded to the 
point that very little timber is being provided from these forest lands 
and many of the mills have closed.
  Unfortunately, these were the mills Mr. McCracken fought so hard to 
preserve. Those that have survived owe their existence largely to Joe 
McCracken.
  Joe was born in Butte, MT in 1925. He served his country as a 
lieutenant in the United States Marines. He attended Princeton 
University where he earned a masters degree in political science.
  He had a distinguished career with the Department of Interior, and 
specifically, the Bureau of Land Management prior to taking the 
leadership position with the Western Forest Industries Association.
  Joe McCracken was a unique individual who left a profound imprint on 
the growth and evolution of public forest policy and the industry that 
is so closely dependent on public forest lands. His contributions to 
this body in assisting us in the thoughtful debate and deliberation of 
these important matters are worthy of our formal recognition.
  I extend my heartfelt sympathy to Joe McCracken's wife Janet and his 
two children, Jon and Tamsen.

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