[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 163 (Saturday, December 17, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2573-E2574]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 A TRIBUTE TO SAN BERNARDINO NATIONAL FOREST SUPERVISOR GENE ZIMMERMAN

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                            HON. JERRY LEWIS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, December 16, 2005

  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to 
a dedicated public servant who has spent 42 years helping preserve our 
forests and wildlands for future Americans, want to particularly 
commend Gene Zimmerman for the past 15 years he has spent as supervisor 
of the San Bernardino National Forest.
  Even as a boy growing up in eastern Oregon, Gene heard the call of 
the great outdoors. He spent his time camping, fishing and hiking in 
the Umatilla National Forest, and worked for a timber company in the 
summer. While attending Oregon State University, he spent his summers 
working for the U.S Forest Service, and began his full-time career 
there when he graduated in 1964.
  Supervisor Zimmerman worked as a ranger in a number of forests in 
Oregon, and began honing his skills in volunteer organization and 
partnership building while working as district ranger in the Columbia 
Gorge District. He continued to develop an expertise in this area when 
he came to the National Headquarters in Washington, DC, to oversee 
legislation on recreation issues.
  The experience Gene Zimmerman gained on how to help people enjoy 
National Forests without damaging them paid off when he was appointed 
supervisor of the San Bernardino National Forest. I have proudly 
represented this area throughout my years in Congress, and I can safely 
say that there is no more heavily used and urbanized forest in the 
United States.
  Imagine a forest nearly surrounded by the largest urban area in the 
Nation--the cities of Southern California--and sharing a mountain 
territory with tens of thousands of homes whose values range into the 
millions of dollars. The main ski resort area of southern California is 
within the San Bernardino National Forest, and millions of people go 
there for recreation each year. For millions of children

[[Page E2574]]

in southern California, this is the only place to go to play in the 
snow or hear the wind whispering through the pines.
  The supervisor of this forest spends as much time dealing with urban 
issues as many mayors. He must deal with water quality, roads, 
development and emergency services as often as he deals with tree 
health and animal habitat protection. Gene Zimmerman has become the 
most familiar face in the San Bernardino Mountains in this role over 
the past 15 years.
  It has been my pleasure to work with Gene on developing services for 
visitors--the Big Bear Discovery Center is one of the most heavily used 
visitor centers in any forest in the Nation. The San Bernardino 
National Forest Association, which Gene organized to help raise funds 
for visitor services, has become a unifying force throughout the 
mountain communities.
  The need to forge a unified approach between the forest and the 
surrounding communities became deadly serious in recent years, when 
drought and an infestation of pine bark beetles left millions of trees 
dead and just waiting for a spark to become a terrible disaster. Gene 
rose to this challenge, as well, organizing the Mountain Area Safety 
Task Force. These Federal, State and local officials developed a plan 
to evacuate nearly 50,000 people, and when the inferno of the Old Fire 
struck in 2003, not a single life was lost to the fire even though 
nearly 1,000 homes burned.
  My work with Gene has continued in the past 3 years as we have sought 
ways to reduce the fire danger and restore the forest. It is my hope 
that this can be accomplished with the help of the recovery plan Gene 
has set in place. He will now hand off the implementation of that plan, 
as he has decided to retire at the beginning of 2006.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe that the mountain residents in my district owe 
a debt of gratitude for the dedication shown by Supervisor Gene 
Zimmerman. I would ask you and my colleagues to join me in thanking 
Gene for his four decades of public service and in wishing the best to 
Gene and his wife Anne in all of their future endeavors.

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