S-2897

TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED:

We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:

WHEREAS, The forest products industry is the second largest manufacturing sector of Washington's economy; and

WHEREAS, Trees are a renewable resource capable, through proper stewardship, of providing benefit to present and future generations of wildlife, as well as consumers and families who depend on forest products; and

WHEREAS, The forest products industry directly and indirectly accounts for 8.9 billion dollars -- or ten percent -- of total gross state product; and

WHEREAS, The forest products industry directly employs 62,000 people in family wage-earning jobs in Washington state; and

WHEREAS, One out of every eleven jobs in Washington, or some 226,000 jobs, are dependent on the forest products industry; and

WHEREAS, 190,000 of these 226,000 jobs depend upon the harvesting of timber from commercial forest lands in Washington state; and

WHEREAS, Many rural areas of Washington state are highly dependent on the industry for their economic livelihood; and

WHEREAS, More than 100,000 people employed in the urban Puget Sound area are dependent on the forest products industry for their livelihoods; and

WHEREAS, There are more than 17.7 million acres of commercial forest land in Washington providing the raw material which the forest products industry is dependent upon; and

WHEREAS, Nearly fifty-one percent -- more than 8.8 million acres ‑- of this land is publicly owned, with 5.2 million acres owned by the federal government; and

WHEREAS, 2,337,000 acres of this commercial forest land managed by agencies of the United States have been statutorily withdrawn from timber management activities for wilderness areas and national parks; and

WHEREAS, On June 26, 1990, the northern spotted owl was listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act; and

WHEREAS, On February 26, 1991, a Federal District Court judge ordered the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to propose critical habitat for the northern spotted owl by April 29, 1991; and

WHEREAS, On May 6, 1991, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service proposed the designation of more than 11.6 million acres -- more than 18,000 square miles -- of forest land in Washington, Oregon, and California as critical habitat for the northern spotted owl; and

WHEREAS, The proposed area of critical habitat is larger than the combined states of Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, and larger than the individual states of Hawaii, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Vermont; and

WHEREAS, The United States Fish and Wildlife Service's proposal includes over 3.2 million acres of Washington commercial forest lands outside of existing wilderness areas and national parks as follows:

Owner Acres

U.S. Forest Service 2,319,070

Bureau of Land Management 320

Tribal lands 62,260

State lands 344,620

Military lands 78,135

Private 476,665

Total 3,281,070; and

WHEREAS, The proposed area of critical habitat in Washington state is larger than the combined area of King, Pierce, Thurston, and Kitsap counties; and

WHEREAS, The recent historic average level of timber harvest from the national forests of Washington has been approximately 1.2 billion board feet per year; and

WHEREAS, The United States Forest Service has estimated that timber harvesting from the national forests in Washington will be reduced by more than 66 percent -- or 800 million board feet -- to a level of 401 million board feet per year because of the designation of critical habitat; and

WHEREAS, Twenty-five percent of the revenue generated from the sale of national forest timber is returned to the local counties for schools and roads; and

WHEREAS, In fiscal years 1988, 1989, and 1990, counties in Washington state received 43 million dollars, 46 million dollars, and 36 million dollars, respectively, from the sale of national forest timber; and

WHEREAS, Those funds will be reduced by at least 66 percent -- or approximately 27 million dollars -- per year, due to reductions in timber sales from federal lands; and

WHEREAS, The United States Fish and Wildlife Service's critical habitat proposal includes 344,000 acres of state and county trust lands, including the second growth Capital Forest and areas of second growth in southwest Washington; and

WHEREAS, The Department of Natural Resources predicts that timber harvesting on state and county trust lands may be reduced by 220 million board feet due to the designation of critical habitat and other spotted owl restrictions; and

WHEREAS, The revenue from timber sold from state lands is directed largely to the school construction fund and the spotted owl protection measures could result in a 55 million dollar annual reduction to school construction and county funding and a 550 million dollar shortfall over the next ten years; and

WHEREAS, Revenue to the school construction and county funds is expected to be reduced by 919 million dollars over the next decade due to the implementation of the Forest Resources and Shortage Relief Act of 1990; and

WHEREAS, Timber harvesting will be impeded on 476,000 acres of private lands designated as critical habitat; and

WHEREAS, The annual reduction in timber harvests due to regulatory constraints imposed for the protection of the spotted owl is conservatively estimated to exceed 477 million board feet; and

WHEREAS, The combined reductions in timber harvests due to regulatory constraints imposed for the protection of the spotted owl will result in a loss of 20.1 million dollars per year -- 201 million dollars over the next decade -- in state excise taxes; and

WHEREAS, The combined reductions in timber supply in 1.6 billion board feet per year represents 26 percent of the historic supply of raw material to the forest products industry in Washington state; and

WHEREAS, The combined impacts would reduce revenue to state and local governments by 194 million dollars per year -- 1.94 billion dollars over the next decade; and

WHEREAS, Recent estimates of job losses in Washington submitted to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service suggest that 14,527 jobs will be lost due to the critical habitat proposal alone; and

WHEREAS, An additional 8,831 jobs will be lost in Washington due to timber supply curtailments associated with the recently enacted federal forest plans for a total of 23,358 jobs lost; and

WHEREAS, The total payroll reduction due to timber supply curtailments will exceed 677 million dollars per year in Washington with associated losses in tax revenues and income flows to dependent sectors of the economy; and

WHEREAS, The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is obligated under the Endangered Species Act to consider social and economic impacts in any proposal to designate critical habitat; and

WHEREAS, The United States Fish and Wildlife Service failed to consider social and economic impacts in its proposal to designate critical habitat for the northern spotted owl; and

WHEREAS, The listing of the northern spotted owl as a threatened species, and the subsequent chaos resulting from decisions by three federal district court judges, three federal agencies, and three individual states has resulted in injunctions, uncertainty, and economic dislocations; and

WHEREAS, These dislocations and social disruptions will greatly increase demands upon the state and local governments to provide, among other services, unemployment assistance, job retraining, health and education assistance, welfare, relocation services, alcohol and drug abuse counseling, family counseling, child care, increased criminal justice facilities, community infrastructure investment, food assistance, and many other social services;

NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray:

(1) That the current proposal to designate 11.6 million acres of critical habitat be immediately set aside, and a new proposal developed which incorporates and recognizes:

(a) The results of the spotted owl recovery planning process currently underway;

(b) The wealth of scientific and population data that has been amassed since 1989, but has been neglected by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in its analysis to list the spotted owl as a threatened species, and the proposal to designate over 18,000 square miles as critical habitat;

(c) The human impacts of any critical habitat proposal and balances those human impacts with the biological needs of the northern spotted owl consistent with the Endangered Species Act; and

(2) That Congress and the President of the United States immediately work to enact fair and balanced legislation that will remedy the chaos in Washington state's public forests, including measures which must:

(a) Recognize the economic needs of people, communities, and consumers, and grant them equal status and consideration in federal decision-making processes with the needs of environmental protection;

(b) Recognize the distinct differences in mission, objectives, and goals of federal, state, and private forest lands in Washington and be particularly cognizant of the rights of private property owners;

(c) Appropriate such federal funds as may be necessary to hold harmless state trust lands from the revenues lost as a result of spotted owl habitat conservation areas.

BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable George Bush, President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress.