[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 43 (Monday, October 28, 1996)]
[Page 2128]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6944--National Forest Products Week, 1996

October 21, 1996

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    For much of our Nation's history, forests, like other natural 
resources, were considered inexhaustible. In this century, we began to 
recognize that forests are a precious birthright for all Americans--not 
only for us and for our children, but also for future generations. As 
part of this recognition, we observe National Forest Products Week.
    Forests are an important source of fuel and building materials, and 
they provide many valuable jobs. They also offer us unmatched 
recreational environments, as well as a spiritual refuge from city life. 
They provide essential habitat for myriad species of plants and animals, 
including hundreds that are endangered or threatened. Increasingly, 
their trees, shrubs, herbs, fungi, and microorganisms are yielding new 
and wondrous medicinal products and foods. And thanks to better planning 
and resource management that replace harvested lands with new forests, 
thousands of Americans will continue to earn their livelihood from our 
Nation's forests, even as we protect them. Today, the same citizens who 
are reaping the forests' bounty are personally and professionally 
involved in efforts to preserve it for future generations.
    Government, citizens, and the forestry industry now work hand-in-
hand in a new cooperative stewardship that emphasizes healthy, diverse, 
and sustainable forests. Using the best available science and complying 
with all current environmental laws, we are examining past and present 
forest management practices to find the best mix of resource use, 
conservation, and recycling that will ensure continued productivity. 
America must promote environmental responsibility and observe the 
highest possible standards of conservation to lead the way for other 
nations.
    One of our most important tools in this endeavor is investment in 
forest research. Forest research is developing new wood products that 
extend raw material supplies, new technologies to extract and process 
wood products with less waste and fewer harmful byproducts, and new ways 
of reducing demand for forest raw materials through recycling. It is 
also unlocking the potential of forests to provide new products that 
will benefit people. With proper care, these lands can remain healthy, 
diverse, and resilient, capable of sustaining the lives--human and 
animal--that are dependent on them.
    In recognition of the central role forests play in the long-term 
welfare of our Nation, the Congress, by Public Law 86-753 (36 U.S.C. 
163), has designated the week beginning on the third Sunday in October 
each year as ``National Forest Products Week'' and has authorized and 
requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this 
commemoration.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, do hereby proclaim October 20 through October 26, 
1996, as National Forest Products Week. I call upon the people of the 
United States to honor the vital role forests play in our national life 
and to observe this week with appropriate ceremonies and activities.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-first 
day of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-six, 
and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred 
and twenty-first.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., October 22, 
1996]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on October 
23.