Copyright 1999 Federal News Service, Inc.
Federal News Service
APRIL 13, 1999, TUESDAY
SECTION: IN THE NEWS
LENGTH:
991 words
HEADLINE: PREPARED TESTIMONY OF
STEVE
HOLMER
CAMPAIGN COORDINATOR
AMERICAN LANDS ALLIANCE
BEFORE THE
HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE
INTERIOR SUBCOMMITTEE
SUBJECT - FOREST APPROPRIATIONS INITIATIVE (FY 2000)
BODY:
A Budget to Protect and Restore the
National Forests
Current Forest Service budget priorities are harming both
the environment and the economy by emphasizing logging at the expense of
activities that are needed to.restore the environment and that provide greater
economic returns. Clean water,fish and wildlife, and tourism on the National
Forests all provide more jobs and economic value than logging. Yet, over
one-third of the agency's budget is spent on logging, and only 11% of the budget
is spent on recreation, fish and wildlife and watershed improvements
combined.The Forest Appropriations Initiative proposes to redirect 10% of the
Forest Service budget away from environmentally harmful activities to fund
restoration and land acquisition programs that have a higher overall benefit to
society. Here is a brief summary of the Initiative:LOGGING AND TIMBER SALE
SUBSIDIES Congress should prohibit logging in old growth, roadless
areas, and steeper unstable slopes. We support reducing the commercial
timber sale subsidy by eliminating funds in the timber sales management
line-item' The National Forest timber program is causing unacceptable
environmental and economic harm. Old-growth, roadless areas,
and critical riparian habitat for endangered salmon stocks are all still being
clearcut on the National Forests. The timber program costs taxpayers anywhere
from $300 million to $1.2 billion dollars each year depending on what economic
analysis is used and none of these estimates include the cost of future
restoration or road maintenance. Eliminating the Timber Sales Management
line-item (which funds less than 1/5 of the total timber program) would save an
estimated $196 million.
ROADS AND ROAD CONSTRUCTION
We oppose all
funding for new roads. We oppose all funding for road reconstruction until the
agency completes long-term roads policy. We support $50 million for more road
maintenance and obliteration. Limited road construction would be permitted to
allow decommissioning of other roads and road reconstruction would be allowed to
prevent imminent environmental harm.According to the Forest Service, only 18% of
the road system is currently being maintained each year and tens of thousands of
miles of road need to be decommissioned. The estimated cost for maintaining the
National Forest road system is $568 million each year. Eliminating new
construction and reconstruction would save an estimated $90 million.
OFF-BUDGET FUNDS & COUNTY PAYMENTS
Congress should elminate all
off-budget funds to end the current incentive to log and to help restore agency
accountability. County payments should also be decoupled to end the incentive
for counties and schools to support excessive logging levels.
RECREATION
We support a moratorium on new construction projects until the existing
infrastructure maintenance backlog has been addressed. Proposes to eliminate the
recreation fee-demonstration project. The Sierra Club, American Lands and over
75 other environmental groups oppose the imposition of recreation access and
user fees on public lands for several reasons: opposition to payment of fees for
use of public lands for which the public already pays taxes; the recreation fee
demonstration program is the le of the recreation industry's attempts to
transform public land recreation into commercial enterprises; and the program
creates an inappropriate incentive to build new facilities to generate more
receipts for the agency.
FIRE ECOLOGY AND FOREST HEALTH
We propose to
reallocate funds within the wildfire management program to increase funding for
research, planning and manual treatments. We strongly oppose restoration and
fuels reduction projects as part of a commercial timber sale. We oppose
earmarked funding for the Quincy Library Group plan. We propose numerous
prescriptions on how to improve and restore accountability to the fire
suppression program.
STEWARDSHIP AND RESTORATION
We oppose the
stewardship contracting language is this year's spending bill and the idea of
trading National Forest trees for services. Congress should reject restoration
projects as part of a commercial timber sale. We support non-commercial
stewardship pilot projects using appropriated funds.
FUNDING INCREASES FOR
RESTORATION
More funds are urgently needed to acquire threatened habitats,
to maintain and decommission roads, and to provide the needed economic
transition assistance for rural communities. The Appropriations Initiative calls
for $398 million in additional spending.
INVASIVE SPECIES
We support a
$25 million increase above last year's level. We propose numerous prescriptions
to improve the program.
LAW ENFORCEMENT
We propose $3 million for a
Timber Theft Cadre to investigate timber theft.
MONITORING AND INVENTORY
We propose a $30 million increase for monitoring along with a requirement
that no project may be undertaken without adequate funds for monitoring. We also
support, the Forest Service completing their inventory of eastern old growth.
FISH AND WILDLIFE PROGRAMS
We endorse a $105 million increase for
habitat protection and research.
WATERSHED IMPROVEMENTS
We support a $20
million increase but opposes spending watershed improvements funds for timber
sale management.
STATE AND PRIVATE FORESTRY
The Initiative proposes a
$55 million increase for the Forest Legacy, Urban Forestry and Economic
Assistance programs that help transition communities away from timber
dependency. LAND ACQUISITION
We support a $100 million increase for land
acquisition.
A BUDGET TO PROTECT AND RESTORE THE NATIONAL FORESTS
We are
proposing to cut $286 million from the road construction and timber sales
management line-items and we are proposing $398 million in increased spending
for restoration and land acquisition programs. This represents a shift of
approximately 10% of the agency's over-all budget that will benefit both the
environmental and the economy.
END
LOAD-DATE:
April 15, 1999 
