Copyright 1999 Federal News Service, Inc.
Federal News Service
FEBRUARY 25, 1999, THURSDAY
SECTION: IN THE NEWS
LENGTH:
2590 words
HEADLINE: PREPARED STATEMENT OF
DAN
GLICKMAN
SECRETARY
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
BEFORE
THE SENATE ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE
BODY:
Chairman Murkowski, Senator Bingaman, and
members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me here today to discuss the
fiscal year 2000 budget for the Forest Service.
Last year when I appeared
before the House Appropriations Committee, 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 the 1999
Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriation. I look forward to
continuing our discussions on Forest Service issues of concern to the Committee
and the public during the fiscal year 2000 budget debate.
About one and a
half years ago, I gave Mike Dombeck the job of developing an agency natural
resources agenda for the 21st Century. Last year he announced that agenda with
four emphasis areas: watershed health and restoration, sustainable forest
management, recreation, and forest roads. The Administration followed up on the
agenda with funding proposals in the budget, a legislative proposal stabilizing
payments to states, and proposals dealing with short and long-term management of
forest roads. For fiscal year 2001), we again are using the agenda to establish
spending, legislative, and regulatory priorities.
Overall, we are requesting
$2.8 billion for Forest Service discretionary spending in fiscal year 2000. This
is a 6.5 percent increase over this year's appropriation, and it includes
several important initiatives that will help us achieve our natural resource
goals.
I. Watershed Health and Restoration
Just over one year ago, the
President and the Vice President announced the Administration's Clean Water
Action Plan, which places a strong emphasis on the activities of the Department
of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency. The plan seeks to
protect public health and restore water quality and our precious waterways by
setting strong goals and providing the Federal land management agencies, the
states, communities and farmers with the tools and resources to meet them. It
charts a new course, emphasizing collaborative strategies built around
watersheds and the communities they sustain.
Water resources have 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. Many communities,
especially in the West, depend on healthy forested watersheds for their clean
sources of drinking water. Wildlife, particularly fish and other aquatic
species, must have an adequate quantity and quality of water to survive.
More than 50 percent of the water in our nation originates from and flows
through forested lands. When you consider that this much of the nation's water
starts flowing on national forest lands and continues to flow through farms and
ranches before reaching suburbs and cities, you begin understanding why the
Department of Agriculture and its programs are so critical in meeting clean
water objectives. From the forested headwaters to the cities, the Forest Service
and the Natural Resources Conservation Service have an impressive array of
programs to clean up our waters.
The Forest Service budget increases Clean
Water Action Plan funding by $89 million from the 1999 appropriation and $131
million over 1998. The 2000 Government Performance and Results Act annual
performance plan provides for some solid increases in outputs that, over time,
will make a significant qualitative improvement in conditions on the ground. In
fiscal year 1998, the agency restored 1,600 miles of streams with 2,800
anticipated for 2000.During 1998 environmental restoration work was completed
through the obliteration, closure or decommissioning of 2,099 miles of roads,
and that will increase to 3,300 in 2000. The Forest Service handled the
characterization or cleanup of 68 hazardous substance sites in 1998 and will do
79 in 2000. Soil and water resource improvements restored or enhanced 38,497
acres on our national forests in 1998 and the 2000 estimate is 30,165. Not every
measure will increase each year because individual projects vary in complexity
and cost, but it is clear that the Forest Service budget strongly supports the
goal of watershed health and restoration.
II. Sustainable Forest Management
The Congress and the Administration continue to work together to promote the
sustainable management of our national forests. For example, the 1999
appropriation included significant increases in the Range and Soil, Water, 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
that would allow accomplishment of vegetation management and other related work
that contributes to restoring and improving the health, diversity and
productivity of the !and.
There is one area that has produced conflict over
the last couple of years, and I hope solutions are close at hand. As you know, I
appointed a Committee of Scientists to advise the Department oil the much-needed
revision and updating of the land management planning regulations to give land
managers more flexibility and to reduce costs. The Committee reflects diverse
opinions and has had to deal with the same sort of vigorous debate on resource
issues I mentioned earlier as a healthy sign of the public's abiding interest in
our national forests. The Committee's report is expected shortly. After this
report, the agency's proposed planning regulations should be available for
public review and comment this spring. For 2000, I am confident we finally can
provide regulations that will lead to land management planning based on the best
science, the most comprehensive public input, and that will leave the land in
better condition for future generations. Revision of these regulations is long
overdue. We need to get on with the job of bringing these land management plans
up to date.Last year, the budget proposed a revision to the Payments to States
program to bring stability to local governments' funding for county roads and
schools. As you know, 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. It is
important that the Federal government provide payments that are both equitable
and reliable.
In the State of the Union address, the President noted that
"...all our communities face a preservation challenge as they grow, and green
space shrinks." He announced the Lands Legacy Initiative which continues the
Administration's vigorous efforts to save America's natural treasures. And, by
providing significant new resources to states and local communities, it forges a
new conservation vision for the 21st Century -- one that recognizes the
importance of preserving irreplaceable pieces of our natural legacy within easy
reach of every citizen. The budget funds Forest Service land acquisition at the
1999 level of $118 million. 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 a new $10 million Smart Growth
Program to preserve places of natural beauty and promote land stewardship. 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
to suburban sprawl. We need to provide options for dealing with this growing
problem tailored to the specific needs of the local area, and I believe that the
President has achieved this through the proposed increases for the Forest
Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, as well as the budget
proposals for the agencies of the Department of the Interior. Working with all
of you, we have a tremendous opportunity to create a legacy where every American
can walk or drive a short distance to open space. I hope that protecting our
great places and providing the tools for localities and states to plan for smart
growth and open space preservation are goals we can work toward cooperatively.
The strength of the El Nino and La Nina patterns in recent years, and their
influence on major disturbance processes such as wildfires and insect and
disease outbreaks, highlights the need to understand the effects of both short
and long-term climate patterns on disturbance events as well as their effect on
the health and productivity of our Nation's forests. It has now been more than a
year since the Kyoto agreement, where the industrialized nations of the world
addressed the enormous challenge of global climate change and the potential role
of managing carbon storage as a mitigation measure. Since then, American
industries have begun to see the potential for market-based approaches to global
carbon management, but much of the basic information for implementing accurate
carbon accounting systems needs to be developed. The 2001) budget proposes $12
million in increased funding to address these problems within the forestry
sector. The Climate Change Technology Initiative will develop methods to
increase the carbon sequestration and the fiber production capacity of our
forests, while contributing to overall reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
The Global Change Initiative will improve our ability to monitor and manage
effects of climate changes and associated disturbance processes on carbon
release, carbon storage, and forest health and production.
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. Despite the tough constraints of the
Budget Enforcement Act of 1997, we have managed to avoid reductions in most
recreation programs, and we have provided a 24 percent increase in funding for
wilderness management.
The Forest Service is looking at alternative funding
mechanisms for recreation and we would like to work with you and others on this
in the coming year. One area where increased revenues are expected is the
recreation fee demonstration program. Last year's appropriation extended the
pilot program through fiscal year 2001, and in the 2000 budget, the
Administration proposes to make the program permanent. As you know, last
November the General Accounting Office issued a rather favorable assessment of
the program's operations to date. The Forest Service is working with the
Interior agencies to deal with the recommendations in that report, and we look
forward to continuing to update you on our progress. This is a joint effort
about which we can all be proud. 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
base 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. It provides crucial infrastructure for our recreation activities, and is
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 for watershed health and public safety. The
200() budget proposes an increase of 23 percent in funding for road maintenance
and decommissioning and it funds road construction and reconstruction at about
the 1999 level.
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 the budget constraints which face us. Under
these circumstances, 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 strategy for forest roads.
Last year the Department published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking
seeking public comments on revision of the regulations governing Forest Service
roads The moratorium will take what are often the most expensive and most
controversial road construction projects off the table while the agency conducts
analyses and engages in a public dialogue on management of forest roads. For the
long-term, we will propose a regulation later this year to establish policies on
when, how, or if new roads should be built, and a prioritization process for
decommissioning old roads. Let's face it, 383,000 miles of roads, enough to
circle the globe 15 times, is a tragic legacy when many of the roads cannot be
maintained properly and cause environmental damage. This is something that we
should begin fixing. I commend Chief Dombeck for his boldness in this area.
V. 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 I announced
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. 1 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 management
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 you 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: February 27, 1999
