HOUSE BILL REPORT

SJM 8023

BYSenators Amondson, Sutherland, Anderson, Barr, Murray, McMullen, von Reichbauer, Lee, Patterson, Johnson, Vognild, DeJarnatt, Patrick, Madsen, Bauer, Sellar, Smith, Saling, Owen, Stratton, West, Moore, Newhouse, Kreidler, McDonald, Warnke and Hayner

Pertaining to forest lands.

House Committe on Natural Resources & Parks

Majority Report:  Do pass as amended.  (8)

      Signed by Representatives Beck, Ranking Republican Member; Brumsickle, Ferguson, Fuhrman, Hargrove, H. Myers, Raiter and Sayan.

Minority Report:  Do not pass.  (1)

      Signed by Representative Belcher, Chair.

House Staff:Bill Koss (786-7129)

AS PASSED HOUSE MARCH 2, 1990

BACKGROUND:

Under the National Forest Management Act of 1976, each national forest must prepare a forest management plan.  The plan must reflect public participation.  The planning process differs from previous forest management practices which were based on the Multiple Use Sustained Yield Act of 1960, and the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resource Act of 1974.  Each act provided increasingly specific instruction on how to include non-timber resources in forest planning.

On Forest Service lands in Washington, the timber sales level for the recent five year period averaged about 1.2 billion board feet.  This represents an increase over the 1975 to 1981 period but a decrease for the period from 1965 to 1975.  The proposed sales levels in the National Forest plans contain options for timber sales as low as 800 million board feet per year.  The preferred alternative options in Washington total about 936 million board feet.

In December 1988, the Forest Service determined that to protect the northern spotted owl it would set aside acreage in each National Forest for habitat.  This decision may result in as much as a 50,000 acre reduction in the commercial forest base of the Olympic National Forest.

SUMMARY:

In supporting the memorial, a series of findings are made:

            oThe state contains over 17.7 million acres of commercial forest land, with the public sector owning 51 percent, and the U.S. Forest Service owning 59 percent of all public commercial forests;

            oNational Parks and Wilderness areas contain 2.3 million acres of commercial forest lands;

            oThe National Forest Management Act established a benchmark harvest of 1.5 billion board feet from Forest Service lands in Washington; timber sales for the past five years have averaged 1.2 billion board feet and a recent forest plan update proposes an additional 28 percent reduction in harvest;

            oCongress faces proposals to withdraw an additional 40 percent of the federal harvest base, a change which cannot be compensated for from additional sales of state timber;

            oThe forest products industry employs nearly 180,000 people, either directly or indirectly and a reduction in federal timber sales will significantly reduce employment and tax revenues; and

            oThe Forest Service has not provided a stable timber supply or stable long-term management of the national forests.

Based on these findings, Congress is memorialized to recognize its historical commitment to timber processing communities by maintaining a harvest base capable of sustaining traditional, predictable and historical average timber sales. Congress is also asked to provide adequate funds to manage lands using silviculturally sound practices and to practice innovative forest management on lands not suited to traditional timber harvesting.

The memorial requests that Congress amend the National Forest Management Act to grant the economic needs of communities equal status as the environment.  Capital gains and other tax legislation to encourage rather than discourage investment in timber production is requested.

Local communities affected by reduction in the timber sales program should receive federal assistance for economic diversification, mill modernization and encouraging additional manufacturing.

Fiscal Note:      Not Requested.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    Senator Amondson; Greg Cox, Lewis County Commissioner; Bruce Beckett, Northwest Forestry Association; Mona Miller, Citizen; Ann Goos and Tom Nygren, U.S. Forest Service neither favored nor opposed.

House Committee - Testified Against:      Melanie Rowland, Wilderness Society; Patrick Berry, Citizen; and Judy Turpin, Washington Environmental Council.

House Committee - Testimony For:    As the Forest Service reduces the volume of timber sold the communities feel the impact in loss of jobs, diminished tax revenues and increased costs of social services.  Many communities have no other industry and have no alternative jobs available, now or in the future.

Forest Service planning could and should consider the effect reduced timber sales will have on communities.

Federal forest lands could sustain harvest levels higher than the current sales program.  Public testimony favored increasing, not decreasing, the sales program.  This could happen while meeting the legal obligations to protect the environment.

If communities chose to diversify their economy, they will still require timber.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      The memorial deals with one element of the timber supply issue:  Forest Service sales level.  It ignores the role of log exports, private land harvest and increased mill efficiency.

Overcutting would result if the memorial resulted in continued Forest Service timber sales levels of 1.2 billion board feet.  The Forest Service does not have enough commercial forest lands remaining to sustain the recent sales level of 1.2 billion board feet per year.  Rather than encouraging overcutting, the message to Congress should address the need to diversify local economies.  This will assist in moving communities through this difficult transition.