[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 156 (Friday, October 23, 2015)]
[House]
[Page H7169]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       MISSOURI'S FOREST PRODUCTS

  (Mr. SMITH of Missouri asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate 
National Forest Products Week.
  Forest products provide more than 60,000 jobs and inject more than $9 
billion in Missouri's economy. In southeast and south central Missouri, 
we produce everything from charcoal, lumber, wood flooring, whiskey and 
wine barrels, pallets, telephone poles, railroad ties, gunstocks, and 
much, much more.
  The number one obstacle to expanding in Missouri is the availability 
of timber. Folks cannot get enough wood to make more products and 
employ more people.
  At the same time, we have trees dying in the Mark Twain National 
Forest faster than the government will allow industry to cut them down. 
Each year 50 million board feet of timber, with an estimated value of 
nearly $5 million, dies in the Mark Twain National Forest. Instead of 
being harvested, this timber is wasted and becomes a fire hazard.
  We have increased the amount of the timber harvest at Mark Twain 
National Forest from 38 to 50 million board feet recently, but we can 
do much better. Better forest management is good for the forest and 
will put people back to work.

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