Copyright 1999 Federal News Service, Inc.
Federal News Service
MARCH 10, 1999, WEDNESDAY
SECTION: IN THE NEWS
LENGTH:
2291 words
HEADLINE: PREPARED STATEMENT OF
DAN
GLICKMAN
SECRETARY, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
BEFORE THE
HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE
INTERIOR SUBCOMMITTEE
BODY:
Mr. Chairman, Congressman Dicks, and
members of the Subcommittee, thank you for inviting me here today to discuss the
fiscal year 2000 (FY 00) budget for the Forest Service.
Last year when I
appeared before you, I noted that forest policy involved controversial issues,
and that the vigorous public debate over how we manage our national forests
signified Americans' deep care and concern about their forests and natural
resources. Well, a vigorous debate over these issues certainly took place last
year, especially during development and enactment of our FY 99 Appropriation
Bill, and after all of that I want to thank you for your efforts in getting the
bill passed.
About one and a half years ago, I gave Mike Dombeck the
assignment: Develop a natural resources agenda for the 21st Century. Last year
he announced that agenda, emphasizing four areas: watershed health and
restoration, sustainable forest management, recreation, and forest roads. The
Administration followed up on the agenda asking for funding in the FY 99 budget,
a legislative proposal stabilizing payments to states, and proposals dealing
with short and long-term management of forest roads. For FY 00, we again are
using the agenda to establish spending, legislative, and management priorities.
Overall, we are requesting $2.8 billion for Forest Service discretionary
spending in FY 00. This is a 6.5 percent increase over this year's
appropriation.
I. Watershed Health and Restoration
Water has always
played a prominent role in the management of our national forests. The Organic
Act of 1897 designated "securing favorable conditions of water flows" as one of
the primary purposes for establishing the national forests. Besides the wildlife
dependent on clean water, communities, especially in the West, depend on healthy
forested watersheds for their clean sources of drinking water.
More than 50
percent of the water in our Nation originates from and flows through forested
lands, underscoring why the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and its programs
are so critical in cleaning our Nation's water. From the forested headwaters to
the cities, the Forest Service, the Natural Resources Conservation Service
(NRCS), and the Farm Service Agency (FSA) have an impressive array of programs
to protect and improve our waters.
The Forest Service budget increases the
President's Clean Water Action Plan funding $89 million over the FY 99
appropriated level. In FY 99, the agency is restoring 1,837 miles of streams,
and anticipates restoring 2,800 additional miles with this funding. During FY
99, the Forest Service is obliterating, closing or decommissioning 3,000 miles
of roads; in 2000, the Forest Service plans to decommission an additional 3,301)
miles. The Forest Service is handling the characterization or cleanup of 71
hazardous substance sites in FY 99 and will do 79 more in FY 0(). All these
accomplishments will mean less pollutants ruining streams and more clean water
for us, wildlife, and the forests.
II. Sustainable Forest Management
The
Administration continues to promote sustainable management of our national
forests with important help from the Congress. For example, the FY 99
appropriation included significant increases in the range and soil, water, and
air programs, and we are proposing increases in those programs again this year.
We also are proposing a new $15 million pilot forest health stewardship program
to test new techniques to restore and improve the health, diversity, and
productivity of the land.
To improve forest planning, I appointed a
Committee of Scientists to advise the Department on how best to revise the land
management planning regulations to give land managers more flexibility, to
reduce costs and best protect the resources. Revision of these regulations is
long overdue. I expect to receive the Committee's recommendations shortly. Then
the proposed planning regulations will be available for public review and
comment. For FY 00, I am confident we finally can provide regulations that will
lead to land management planning based on the best science, the most
comprehensive public comment, and that will leave the land in better condition
for future generations. We will then get on with the job of bringing our
forests' land management plans up to date in a manner that meets the public's
expectations and includes the best science to ensure long-term sustainability of
the land.
Last year, the budget proposed to revise the payments to states
program to bring stability to local governments' funding for county roads and
schools. Under the receipt-sharing formula, these payments have been declining
for most of the last decade. The special legislation enacted for the spotted owl
forests also provides for annually decreasing payments which currently end after
2003. It is time to set a new policy: Communities near forests should not suffer
cutbacks for schools and roads due to declines in timber harvest levels on
Federal lands.
In his State of the Union address, the President stated that
"all our communities face a preservation challenge as they grow, and green space
shrinks." To help meet this challenge, his Lands Legacy
Initiative continues the Administration's vigorous efforts to save
America's natural treasures.
There is a real "land crunch" affecting many
parts of the Nation. This includes some entire states, most municipalities, and
even many small communities.' These areas are in real jeopardy of losing much of
their open space and fertile land to suburban sprawl. Working lands are being
converted to suburban sprawl daily. By the time the owner of the last farm,
forest, or ranch finds himself or herself surrounded by suburban or second home
development, it is too late to maintain a viable working land base and
infrastructure of suppliers, processing facilities and cooperating networks of
neighboring producers. States and localities need to be able to act on their
citizens' concerns about the reduced availability of open space. We need to
provide options for dealing with this growing problem tailored to the specific
needs of each local area. Providing States and localities with an array of tools
to utilize will make their job easier in gaining the cooperation of landowners.
In some cases Federal ownership patterns are a factor in the preservation of
open space. There are times when we need to purchase critical parcels on a
willing-seller basis. Land acquisition money is necessary for purchasing our
Nation's last treasures and for buying important inholdings in wilderness areas,
wild and scenic river corridors, national recreation areas and other places
specially designated by the President or the Congress. Often the opportunity to
purchase a critical site may occur only once every couple of generations, and we
need the flexibility to take advantage of such opportunities. The initiative
proposes significant new resources to states and local communities to help
preserve irreplaceable pieces of our natural legacy, keeping them within easy
reach of every citizen. The budget proposes Forest Service land acquisition at
the FY 99 level of $118 million, a critical part of the President's initiative.
In addition, the budget proposes $62 million from the Land and Water
Conservation Fund in increases for the Forest Legacy and Urban and Community
Forestry Programs as well as for a new Smart Growth Partnership to promote land
stewardship and community development. Finally, the budget of the Natural
Resources Conservation Service, pending before the Agriculture Subcommittee,
requests $50 million for Farmland Protection.
The El Nino and La Nina
patterns in recent years and their influence on wildfires and insect and disease
outbreaks underscore our need to understand the effects of climate patterns on
the health and productivity of our Nation's forests. The Climate Change
Technology Initiative will develop methods to increase the carbon sequestration
and the fiber production capacity of our forests, while contributing to reducing
greenhouse gas emissions. The Global Change Initiative will improve our ability
to monitor and manage effects of climate changes on carbon release, carbon
storage, and forest health and production. This research is critical to
understanding how forests contribute to ameliorating climate change as well as
how damaging climate change can be to our forests.
III. Recreation
The
American public's demand for quality outdoor recreation experiences on the
national forests continues to grow, at a time when we have difficulty providing
adequate funding to pick up the garbage and do routine maintenance, let alone
make long-needed investments to reduce the backlog of deferred maintenance and
reconstruction needs. Nonetheless we have managed to avoid reducing most
recreation programs, and have provided a 24 percent increase in funding for
wilderness management.
The Forest Service is looking at alternative funding
mechanisms for recreation and will work with you and others on this in the
coming year. For example, one source of increased revenues is the recreation fee
demonstration program. While the FY 99 appropriation extended the pilot program
through FY 01, the FY 00 budget proposes to make the program permanent. The
Administration is also proposing legislation to permit the Forest Service to
retain fees charged for commercial filming, and concession reform measures to
help supplement the funding of our recreation programs.
IV. Roads
Last
year the Department announced a major initiative in the management of Forest
Service roads. We recognize the road system is an integral part of the
transportation network in many rural areas -- crucial to recreation and
essential for the operation of our timber and minerals programs. However, we
simply have more roads than we can afford or need on the national forests. We
badly need to restore degraded roads to maintain and improve watershed health
and public safety. The FY 00 budget proposes an increase of 23 percent in
funding for road maintenance and decommissioning, while funding road
construction and reconstruction at about the FY 99 level.
However, with an
estimated backlog of more than $8 billion of road maintenance and reconstruction
needs, we cannot solve our road problems by trying to increase funding under
current budget constraints. That is one of the reasons I strongly support Chief
Dombeck's recent decision to impose an eighteen-month moratorium on road
building in certain roadless areas while the agency develops a long-term roads
strategy. The moratorium will take what are often the most expensive and most
controversial road construction projects off the table while the agency analyzes
its road inventory and future needs and engages in a public dialogue on the long
term strategy which we expect to publish later this year. 383,000 miles of
roads, enough to circle the globe many times over, is a tragic legacy when many
of the roads cannot be maintained properly and cause environmental damage. This
is something we should begin fixing, and I believe that we are on the right
path.
V. Accountability
I strongly believe that undergirding these four
agenda items is the need for more agency accountability, particularly financial
accountability. It goes part and parcel with managing public lands. Chief
Dombeck has kept his promise to me to establish an experienced financial
management team to develop a strategy for fixing the problems that exist. We now
have that team and strategy in place. I look forward to working with you on
accountability issues over the next year.
VI. Civil Rights
I also would
like to mention my on-going efforts to address civil rights concerns. As
Secretary of Agriculture, I am committed to ensuring the civil rights of USDA's
customers and employees. Every customer and every employee must be treated
fairly and equitably, with dignity and respect. There are no exceptions. The
Department has had serious problems in this area in the past. The class action
settlement with African American farmers that was proposed in January will close
a painful chapter in USDA's history but does not complete our civil rights
initiative. We still have more to do. The Forest Service is the largest employer
in the Department and its employees deal with a large and diverse constituency.
I fully expect the Forest Service, no less than any other agency, to devote the
time, staff and resources necessary to achieve these objectives, and I am happy
to report that the Forest Service is doing so. The agency has made much progress
in this area, but it still faces many challenges in certain regions that we will
be working to overcome.
Conclusion
Chief Dombeck has put the Forest
Service on the right track with a natural resource agenda that places the health
of the land as a top priority, while being sensitive to the needs of local
communities. The Administration has proposed the funding necessary to support
this agenda. However, neither the Administration nor the Congress can adequately
fund the Forest Service under the existing spending restrictions without looking
at possible offsetting adjustments. To partially defray the cost of Forest
Service programs, a diverse array of legislative proposals and administrative
measures are being developed which will offset some of the increases in funding
proposed for Forest Service activities. These include a timber user fee proposal
and measures which will permit the agency to retain some of its receipts for
resource program uses. The legislative proposals will be sent to the Congress
soon for consideration.
Once again, thank you for asking me to be here. I
will be glad to answer any questions you may have.
END
LOAD-DATE: March 12, 1999
