[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 12 (Thursday, January 27, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Page S340]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. WYDEN (for himself and Mr. Merkley):
  S. 220. A bill to provide for the reforestation of forest landscapes, 
protection of old growth forests, and management of national forests in 
the eastside forests of the State of Oregon; to the Committee on Energy 
and Natural Resources.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce critical forest 
legislation for my home State of Oregon.
  This is legislation that I introduced in the last Congress. 
Unfortunately, despite making significant progress and gaining the 
support of the administration, my legislation did not get passed before 
Congress adjourned. But the need remains as great as ever and it 
remains one of the top priorities for my State. So today, early in this 
new Congress, I am reintroducing the bill and sending the message that 
this urgent priority needs to get done.
  I am pleased that my colleague from Oregon, Senator Merkley, has 
joined me today in introducing this bill. Like me, he recognizes the 
severe needs in our forests and in the forest dependent communities.
  For too many decades, Oregon has been at war with itself over the 
fate of its forests. Nowhere has the negative impact of this battle 
been greater than in Oregon's eastside forests.
  Over-logging and disastrous fire suppression policies of the past 
gave way over time to excessive litigation and gridlock.
  That excessive litigation and gridlock has resulted in millions of 
acres of Oregon's Federal forest landscape containing choked, 
overstocked stands that are at great risk of uncharacteristic 
catastrophic fires, insect infestations and disease.
  Controversial logging that holds the industry and the environment 
hostage to competing ideologies serves no one's interest. The focus 
should be on areas that everyone agrees desperately need management: to 
thin and restore our forests and watersheds, and to reduce hazardous 
fuels putting our forests at risk.
  That is why I introduced legislation in the last Congress to begin to 
tackle the challenges facing Oregon's Eastside forests.
  Leaders on both sides of these difficult issues came together with me 
after intense negotiations to bring peace, jobs, and a healthier 
tomorrow to the 8.3 million acres on the 6 Federal forests in eastern 
and central Oregon.
  Those leaders realized that each side had armed itself politically 
enough to survive, but not enough to succeed.
  With each passing month and each attempted timber sale and threatened 
lawsuit, our inability to take action, our inability to address the 
needs of Oregon's declining forests means that they are growing more at 
risk of preventable fire and disease.
  Leaders on both sides of this issue realized that unless something 
fundamental changes, Oregon's Federal forest landscape, with millions 
of acres of choked, at-risk forest in desperate need of management, 
millions of acres of old growth, species habitat, and watersheds face 
an uncertain future.
  Timber executives came together with leaders of the Oregon 
environmental community to take shared responsibility for saving our 
endangered forests, following months of intense negotiations to reach 
an agreement on legislation.
  Since my bill was introduced in the last Congress, there have been 
continuing discussions and negotiations as my stakeholders and I have 
worked with the Administration and the Energy and Natural Resources 
Committee to get the bill ready for passage in the Senate. Today's bill 
reflects some of those changes, but it preserves the core elements of 
the agreement that I crafted with the stakeholders to this agreement--a 
push to increase the timber produced from our national forests, 
landscape scale restoration efforts and protections for watersheds and 
old growth.
  Today in eastern Oregon we are down to only a small handful of 
surviving mills. Without far greater certainty of supply and an 
immediate increase in merchantable timber, more mills will close.
  If that happens, our Eastside forests will pay the price.
  Without mills to process saw logs and other merchantable material 
from forest restoration projects, there will be no restoration of our 
Eastside forests.
  Fortunately leaders on both sides of this issue recognize that and 
that is why they set aside their differences to forge an agreement.
  Job One must be saving the remaining infrastructure of forestry--
Oregon's mills and its timber workers--in central and eastern Oregon 
while preserving our old growth and watersheds.
  My stakeholders and I worked very hard on the agreement and to 
advance this legislation. As I predicted, we have already seen our 
share of challenges. But I have great faith that we will stand firm to 
see this legislation implemented.
  I am not going to let Congressional gridlock stop the historic 
progress that has been made on forestry issues in Oregon. This issue is 
simply too important.
  I also want to point out that none of our efforts will succeed unless 
Oregon Federal forests are also adequately funded to properly manage 
and restore these valuable Federal assets.
  Together, as a team, we will fight for the funding to put our people 
back to work and restore the health of our forests.
  I want to thank my stakeholders for their support and tireless work 
in crafting this agreement and ultimately in working with me through 
the legislative process.
  I am proud to introduce this legislation today, and I am going to 
keep working with all the folks in my State who are willing to talk in 
good faith about restoring our eastside forests.

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