Mike Dombeck, Chief, USDA Forest Service

March 27, 2000

Three years ago, there was widespread concern within Congress, the public, and even the agency that the Forest Service had lost sight of its mission. The sense of confusion over our core purpose permeated congressional hearings, media reports and even internal dialogue. We crafted the Natural Resources Agenda to focus an ecosystem-based approach to our multiple use mission.

The Natural Resource Agenda focuses on:

· Watershed health and restoration · Roads/Roadless

· Sustainable forest and grassland ecosystems · Recreation

This Agenda reaffirms our commitment to our roots, our commitment to caring for the land, our commitment to serving people, our commitment to sustainability, our commitment to conservation.

I’m proud of the many accomplishments of the men and women of the Forest Service. These accomplishments would not be possible without the collaborative efforts of our many partners. Just consider some examples of the many achievements and National Forest uses in fiscal year 1999. We:

· Enhanced 11,300 acres of inland lakes

· Treated 87,700 acres of rangelands for noxious weeds

· Managed 34.7 million acres of wilderness

· Helped place 1.8 million acres of non-industrial private forest lands under stewardship management plans

· Issued 23,000 recreation special use permits

· Preserved 4,350 heritage sites

· Maintained 5.2 billion board feet of timber under contract

· Decommissioned 2,900 miles of road

· Reconstructed 1,750 miles of trail

· Reforested 267,000 acres

· Restored 185,000 acres of wildlife habitat

· Maintained 262,000 acres of forestlands through stand improvement

· Cleaned up 29 hazardous substance sites

· Published 2,700 research publications

· Improved 82,000 acres of threatened and endangered species habitat

· Assisted 11,000 communities through urban forestry

· Assisted 2,450 community and volunteer fire departments

· Administered 8.2 million animal head months of grazing

· Put out more than 98 percent of wildfires in initial attack

Multiple use is alive and well but the balances continue to change as society changes. Multiple use has never meant that we should do everything on every acre simply because we can. For over a century, citizens have debated management of their forests. The result is played out in a messy and awkward dialogue with which we are all familiar.

Today, I’d like to step aside from these debates and begin a dialogue on the most basic of questions: what can we do today to ensure our forests, grasslands, and river systems retain their health, diversity, and productivity? How can we work together to ensure sustainable communities that thrive and prosper in a way that promotes land health and social well-being?

The dialogue I describe must extend beyond the walls of this room. It must define the political debates in Congress, across the nation’s editorial pages, and into local meetings across our largest cities and smallest townships. It is not the work of any single political party, land management agency, conservation or wise use group. What I describe is the essence of democracy. It is the mark of a mature nation willing to demonstrate world leadership through cautious example, education, and humility. It represents nothing less than our collective obligation to live in productive harmony with the lands and waters that sustain us all.

If our challenges were a function of science, technology or planning, we would engineer our way to a solution. The fact is that most natural resource issues are less technical than they are social. We can build better dams, design better roads, and enact policies that thwart exotic species from entering our borders. Whether we can change the way people think, act, or treat one another and the land that sustains them is another issue altogether. In that context, I would like to share with you our priorities for the coming year.

Consistent with our Organic Act, watershed health and restoration remain the oldest and highest calling of the Forest Service. We will continue to make watershed health the overriding objective of National Forest and Grassland management. Forested lands comprise about one-third of the nation’s land area and supply about two-thirds of the total water runoff in the United States. We estimate the marginal value of water on National Forest lands to be more than $3.7 billion per year.

Over 3,400 communities rely on National Forests in 33 states for their drinking water, serving over 60 million people. Impaired watersheds can threaten public health and force expensive drinking water treatments on taxpayers. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates an $11 billion need for the rehabilitation of sources of drinking water.

· Recognizing the essential contribution of National Forests and Grasslands to public sources of drinking water, by 2001, we will work with the States to identify and map each community that depends on National Forests for their drinking water supply and estimate how many people each system serves. We will also assess each of our relevant forest plans to ensure they provide adequate protection to drinking water supplies.

Directly outside my office window is evidence of the success of the Clean Water Act in reducing point source pollution. The Potomac River is today one of the finest bass fisheries in the nation.

· Our challenge is to better understand the causes and effects of polluted runoff on our waterways. To that end, Forest Service Research will work with interested States, American Indian tribes and others to develop cost effective and accurate monitoring techniques to discern between natural erosion and that influenced by human actions.

Collaborative approaches to restoration ensure that healthy watersheds produce high quality water and provide for the long-term sustained yield of other goods, values, and services. When people come together to develop a shared vision for healthier lands and waters, ownership is built in successful restoration efforts.

In fiscal 2000 and 2001, the Forest Service will invest more than $18 million to implement 12 large-scale collaborative watershed restoration projects covering millions of acres. This funding will be matched by partner organizations. The projects demonstrate diversity in project scope and location:

· The Upper Pit River Restoration Project encompassing approximately 500,000 acres within the 2 million acre Modoc National Forest in California.

· The Upper Sevier River Restoration Project on the Dixie National Forest in Utah.

· The 3 million acre Blue Mountain Demonstration Area in Oregon.

· The Chattooga River Watershed Restoration Project, located within a corner of the three adjoining states of Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina

· The Chesapeake Bay Watershed Partnership among the Forest Service, Virginia Department of Forestry, Maryland Forest Service, Ducks Unlimited and others.

· The Conasauga River Watershed Restoration Project on the Cherokee and Chattahoochee National Forests.

· The Delta Watershed Restoration Project in the lower Mississippi alluvial valley.

· The New York City Watershed Study looks at combining methods of protecting working forests and high quality drinking water to approximately 9 million residents.

· The Pacific Coast Watershed Restoration Initiative will restore private and public coastal lands in the Northwest.

· The Upper South Platte Watershed Protection and Restoration Project in Colorado.

· The White River Partnership in central Vermont.

· The Rio Penasco Restoration Project within the Lincoln National Forest.

These large watershed projects all encompass mixed ownerships with many Federal, state, tribal, and private partners involved.

Multiple use management is based on sound science and a firm understanding of what makes complex ecological systems hum and tick. Regional assessments conducted in Alaska, the southern Appalachians, the Pacific Northwest, and the Columbia River Basin provide us with a better understanding of the effects of management decisions on the landscape. National Forest System lands are among the most biologically diverse in the nation. We must protect these strongholds through sound management. This, in turn requires a strong science base.

· We will work with the EPA, States, and the Fish and Wildlife Service to complete the Southern Resources Assessment for 13 southern states in FY 2001. These assessments provide scientific information needed to help States and local communities to make informed resource use and conservation decisions.

Of growing concern is the threat to watershed health from the introduction and spread of invasive and noxious species. More than 2,000 invasive and noxious plant species, 400 non-native forest insects, 20 tree pathogens, and countless exotic aquatic species are already established in the United States. On public lands, the annual spread of invasive plant species exceeds the size of Delaware. Economic and ecological losses continue to spiral upward. The cost of invasive species to our economy is estimated at over $136 billion per year.

The recent introduction of the Asian longhorned beetle, for example, threatens nearly 45 percent of the hardwood forests in the Northeast. The Forest Service has a long history of working with partners to control pests but the magnitude of the issue calls for new approaches. The Forest Service will work with its Federal, state, local partners and tribal governments to:

· Integrate all of its program areas to slow the spread of invasive species on public and private lands, and restore the ecological integrity of already impacted areas. Flexible funding and resources can make the difference between eradication and infestation of exotic species. Forest Service program areas will coordinate efforts to monitor invasive species, develop new tools for control, and implement solutions that prevent new introductions across the landscape.

John Muir once wrote, “when we try to pick anything out of the universe, we find it hitched to everything else.” The effects of National Forest and Grassland management influence social and ecological conditions across the nation and the world. As conservation leaders, we cannot turn away myopically from the effects of our decisions on local communities or other countries.

New tools such as the criteria and indicators adopted through the Montreal Protocols provide us with a common language that transcends land ownerships and allows us to better monitor and understand the effects of our decisions on local landscapes and global economies.

Sustainable resource management entails a consideration of basic social, economic, and ecological factors. For example, our draft forest planning regulations are based on the simple premise that we cannot meet the social and economic needs of people without first securing the health of the land.

· We will finalize our new planning regulations for National Forests and Grasslands this year. These regulations are based on the principles of collaborative stewardship, sound science, and sustainability and will lead to revisions of forest and grassland management plans that comprise 192 million acres of public land - 8 percent of the nation’s land area.

 

New forest planning regulations alone will not secure the sustainability of our nation’s forests or the communities that depend on them. In the South, for example, research indicates that softwood timber harvest rates may exceed forest growth rates. In the future, we will broaden the non-regulatory efforts of our State and Private Forestry programs to help non-industrial private landowners accomplish their land management objectives. These lands comprise 58 percent of the nation’s forests and produce 59 percent of the nation’s wood supply.

· Through the National Agroforestry Center, the Forest Service, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and our State partners will promote the integration of forestry into agricultural settings to protect soil and water resources, provide corridors for wildlife, and enhance farm efficiency and production.

· We will work with private landowners through such programs as the Stewardship Incentive Program to help interested private landowners to meet their land management objectives, promote wildlife conservation, improve water quality, and produce sustainable timber harvests.

· Proposed increases in our Forest Legacy program will allow willing landowners to protect over hundreds of thousands of private land from the effects of sprawl while allowing traditional forest uses. Investing more resources into conservation easements and land acquisition of critical habitat for imperiled species, as proposed by Congress will also conserve rare species and their habitats.

Forest Service Research and Development has, and will continue to, play an important role in our approach to promoting sustainability. For example:

· Forest Service Research and Development has played a vital role in the recovery and use of about 45 percent of our waste paper.

· Research from our Forest Products Lab in Wisconsin could lead to more high quality paper being produced from less wood fiber by mixing precipitated calcium carbonate into wood pulp. This could reduce the amount of sludge produced from paper production and is expected to lead to a return investment for papermakers of between 60 and 95 percent.

The need for research associated with all forest resources and uses will increase. The role of the Forest Service is to provide accurate, timely, and impartial information on the condition of forests through such programs as Forest Inventory and Analysis. In the future, we will integrate forest ecosystem health measures into this program and work with our State and federal partners to assess the overall health of the nation’s forests, across all ownerships.

States such as Kentucky are leading sustainability efforts by requiring applicants for State development funds to implement sustainability plans that may ensure implementation of best management practices, use of forestry professionals, groundwater protection, and conservation of special areas. Other States such as Maryland are developing assessment tools that will help them to set management priorities for the State’s most ecologically sensitive lands and waters.

Consider the issue of forest ecosystem health on public lands. Increased knowledge leads to better management. Historic low-intensity fires in the West often did not kill the big trees, but they did thin the forest under-story. Low-intensity fires were ignited by American Indians to promote browse for game, to enhance berry crops, and for other purposes. Over time, we got so good at fire control that we quickly put out most fires, even beneficial natural ones.

Two things happened. First, the landscape started to lose its natural diversity - the mosaic of early, mid, and late seral stage habitats. The second thing that happened was that in many of our old open forests, young vegetation, no longer regulated by fire, grew into a dense tangle of young trees. If a fire did occur, the dense fuels could ladder into the crowns, and destroy old growth trees. Past timber harvest practices and grazing further altered land health, and increasing global trade increased the spread of exotic pests and diseases.

Today, we estimate some 24 million acres of National Forest in the Interior west are at a high risk of wildfires that could compromise ecosystem integrity and human safety. An additional 32 million acres are at moderate risk. In the absence of fire, many forests are more prone to increased insect and disease epidemics and when fires do occur in these areas, they can destroy forest stands and soils.

Our objective is to manage entire forest ecosystems, not simply the trees. Restoring forest ecosystems involves a variety of disciplines including hydrology, soil science, and biology. Our prescriptions must be science based. Sometimes simply leaving areas alone to heal is the preferred option. Or a suite of treatments may be necessary such as road stabilization or decommissioning, prescribed fire, the thinning and fuel reduction. When possible, utilizing this wood to meet the increasing fiber demands makes good economic and environmental sense.

· Our goal is to promote ecosystem health and conservation using collaborative approaches to sustain the Nation’s forests, grasslands, and watersheds. We will soon release a national wildland fire strategy that will help us to focus restoration efforts on protecting communities, restoring essential ecological processes, and prioritizing areas most in need of treatment.

Some argue the need for a “zero-cut” policy on public lands. I reject such a notion and think it inappropriate for the wealthiest nation in the world to export its wood fiber demand to other lands. National Forests should serve as an international model for sustainable forestry. Without the harvest of low value material, fire cannot be used safely to restore many areas. In addition, stewardship-oriented timber harvest of low value material encourages new business opportunities that can utilize and process small diameter wood fiber as well as improving habitat for many important wildlife species. Without this commitment, private sector and congressional investments in restoration and stewardship will be reduced.

Our challenges are immense, but if we act with creativity, and focus on developing a shared vision for ecologically sustainable forests and grasslands, the opportunities for job creation and new stewardship industries are significant. For example, our legislative proposal to stabilize payments to states and the Healthy Investments in Rural Environments initiative could lead to thousands of high paying, family wage jobs that emphasize ecosystem restoration, forest stewardship, and maintenance of our existing roads, facilities, and recreation infrastructure. Maintaining our roads, reducing fire risk, and restoring our watersheds is a local jobs program waiting to happen.

We will continue in the year 2000 to provide leadership to try and resolve the divisive issues of roads and roadless areas. We have published a draft road policy with the objective of improving public access to public lands within the limits of the land. This policy will focus on the road system of the future, instead of the current struggle over an eroding road system that we cannot afford to maintain.

The draft policy provides a science-based framework for local forest managers, local governments and the communities of interest to make decisions together about the future of the National Forest road system. It will help address issues such as: What Forest Service roads are high priority and should be upgraded? What roads are of lesser importance or no longer needed? What should be done with these roads? Should they be closed, decommissioned, or converted to other uses such as hiking, biking, or hunter walking trails?

The Forest Service road system should mesh “hand in glove” with the local community road system to best meet conservation and management needs and the transportation needs of the community. And the Forest Service road system must be affordable.

· An important part of resolving the debate over roads involves funding. Our maintenance and reconstruction backlog on our existing 380,000 mile road system exceeds $8 billion. We presently receive less than 20 percent of the funding needed to maintain our roads to safety and environmental standards. One possible solution is to make approximately 60,000 miles of our most traveled roads available for funding through the federal Highway Trust Funds. We are working with Congress and the Federal Highway Administration to qualify for over $400 million per year to reconstruct public roads across National Forests and Grasslands.

There are also major environmental and budgetary concerns about creating roads and other activities in roadless areas. The Forest Service believes that rather than attempt to build new roads in roadless areas, it should invest its limited fiscal resources in projects that have broader support, cost less, and have fewer environmental impacts.

We are not the first to take on the issue of roadless areas. Forest Service Chief Ed Cliff first attempted to resolve the roadless area question through a wilderness inventory that evolved into RARE II and was completed by Chief Max Peterson. Then followed the first round of forest planning that was brought to completion under the tenure of Chief Dale Robertson. Most recently, my immediate predecessor, Jack Thomas, instructed that roadless areas be removed from the timber base if managers didn't intend to enter them.

For too many years we have spent too much time and energy on the roadless areas issue, which has caused a considerable drain on other important priorities. It is time we move forward with a decision on the future management of roadless areas in the National Forest System.

Completion of our roadless area initiative will not be easy. There are those who seek to stall or otherwise thwart our efforts, but we remain committed to implementing the President’s direction to protect the significant values of 54 million acres of inventoried roadless areas. The conservation options before us today are a tribute to the foresight of our earlier leaders. It is a legacy of which to be proud - one that will be remembered and appreciated by future generations. Now it is our turn. I am confident that our approach will ensure that the Forest Service, the world's foremost conservation organization stands tall in that accounting.

Recreation is the fastest growing use of our National Forests. Outdoor recreation is the window through which an increasingly urban society learns about conservation of natural resources and develops an appreciation for the outdoors and enjoys nature. As with any use we must tread lightly on the land and live with its limits. Our strategy will focus on six key areas.

· First, know the people we serve. Train employees and employ social science to better understand public values, expectations, and potential conflicts in order to meet the needs of the recreating public.

· Second, invest in special places most valued by people. Identify the most sought after places and ensure quality experiences while providing opportunity for community investment in recreation and tourism. Reduce unacceptable damage to sensitive areas, such as wilderness and roadless areas, and encourage use of more resilient areas.

· Third, reduce the maintenance backlog on the recreation infrastructure. Employ recreation fees to improve facilities and services, leverage challenge-cost share funds, encourage local forest-community partnerships, and strengthen volunteer programs.

· Fourth, develop partnerships for natural resource conservation education and interpretation. Build upon successful partnerships with groups such as the Girl and Boy Scouts, expand successful inner-city programs such as the Urban Resources Partnership, and develop business plans to improve customer service for eight of our 56 visitor centers.

· Fifth, develop business opportunities for under-served and low income communities. Improve access, services, and programs to under-served and low-income communities.

· Sixth, improve access to public lands within the ecological limits of the land. Pursue rights of way and other means to ensure access to National Forests.

The objective of our recreation strategy is to expand upon recreation opportunities in a manner that benefits local communities and improves the health of our lands and waters. Such noble objectives are not without cost. In an era of flat budgets, we must find new ways to ensure quality visitor experiences while maintaining our existing infrastructure.

· We all want the public lands to remain the backyard for all Americans. For that reason, the vast majority of public lands remain free for use by all people. The Recreation Fee Demonstration program, however, remains a valuable tool to provide improved recreation facilities and services and to take care of recreation sites in selected areas. We will work with Congress to make the Recreation Fee Demonstration authority permanent.

· It is essential that we reflect upon what we have learned through the past several years. For this reason, I am commissioning an evaluation of the Recreation Fee program involving key recreation partners, stakeholders and interested citizens. This effort will help us to improve and guide future efforts.

One of the more challenging recreation issues involves off road vehicle use of public lands. Off highway vehicles are a legitimate use of most national forests and grasslands. As with all other uses of the National Forest System, our responsibility is to ensure that no single use compromises the basic integrity of the public’s land. To that end, the following will guide future management of off highway vehicles.

· Off road vehicle use decisions will be made through an open and public process unless there is justifiable need for immediate action to protect forest resources or public safety.

· Where unauthorized roads and trails are an issue, our management should reflect the general policy that motorized use occurs only on designated routes and areas. We do not condone the development of unplanned or unauthorized trails and roads. This obligates the Forest Service to ensure that designated roads, motorized trails, and other areas are adequately signed, mapped, and marked for public use and enjoyment.

· Any decision to make currently unauthorized roads and trails a part of the authorized forest transportation system will be made through open and public processes.

· Maintenance or reconstruction of authorized forest roads that could change either levels or types of use will also be made through an open and public process. Forests will monitor off road vehicle use to ensure public safety and prevent environmental degradation.

 

It is important that sound natural resources management is grounded in modern business management practices. I have made the Forest Service’s accountability and business management skills a priority. And, we have made progress. I anticipate that we will have our first unqualified audit opinion on our FY 2000 financial statements. A clean audit opinion by itself, however, will not restore the agency’s credibility with Congress and the American people. A change in agency culture must occur - a change based on the knowledge that we cannot be effective resource managers if we are not first accountable for the taxpayer’s money and for our own actions on the landscape. For example, we are:

· Implementing a simplified budget structure. As required by the Government Performance and Results Act, rather than budget based on the money we spend, the agency has proposed that Congress appropriate funding based on performance.

· Incorporating land health performance measures that link to our strategic plan and budget information.

· Creating clearer and more direct lines of accountability. For the first time in many years all our leadership positions have been filled. We have also established the offices of the Chief Operating Officer and the Chief Financial Officer.

· Implementing new standardized accounting procedures to provide “real-time” financial information, meet federal financial accounting standards, simplify our accounting process, and better allocate resources based on agency priorities.

· The Forest Service recently completed its first real property inventory.

· Standardizing resource inventories to facilitate the collection, interpretation, and sharing of information to promote sound management decisions on the ground.

These reforms demonstrate our commitment to remaining accountable to the American taxpayers for managing their lands and waters.

So, I welcome the visitors and you the owners--American citizens--to your National Forests. I invite you and your families to:

· Relax and enjoy one of our 18,000 campgrounds, picnic areas, and visitor facilities;

· Catch dinner from a stretch of more than 200,000 miles of fishable streams;

· Bike, hike, walk or ride any of the 133,000 miles of trail;

· View the spring wild flower and spectacular fall colors along 7,700 miles of scenic byways;

· Experience the thrill of 80 percent of the best elk, mountain goat and, big horn sheep habitat in the lower 48;

· Appreciate the historic significance of 277,000 heritage sites; and

· Marvel at the wonder of 34.5 million acres of wilderness areas.

These lands are your birthright to be used, enjoyed and preserved for future generations. We must manage them wisely.

I’ll close with a request. A plea, really. Engage. These are your lands. The Forest Service is your agency. Rarely, if ever before, have we been as enmeshed in so many conservation issues that are of such national and local importance. All the best science, all the political posturing, all the interest group tussles in the world, cannot replace the will of the people. Engage us. Make your views known. Help us to ensure that we pass on to our children a richer land legacy than the one we inherited from our forefathers.