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, There are over 17,700,000 acres of commercial forest land in Washington state; and

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

WHEREAS, 2,337,000 acres of this commercial forest land base managed by agencies of the United States Government, has been withdrawn from timber management activities as follows:

!tp3,1,1 !tl@beCommercial!sc ,1For!ttest!sc ,1Land@ee

!ixOlympic National Park !tr800,000 acres

!ixNorth Cascades National Park !tr274,000 acres

!ixMt. Rainier National Park !tr106,000 acres

!ixRoss Lake National Recreation Area !tr70,000 acres

!ixLake Chelan National Recreation Area !tr40,000 acres

!ixGlacier Peak Wilderness (1964, 1968, 1984) !tr165,500 acres

!ixPasaytan Wilderness (1968, 1984) !tr262,200 acres

!ixAlpine Lakes Wilderness (1976) !tr66,400 acres

!ixGoat Rocks Wilderness (1976, 1984) !tr62,100 acres

!ixMount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument !tr57,000 acres

!sc ,2(1982)

Whereas, The additional following areas of commercial forest land were withdrawn for the first time by the Washington Wilderness Act of 1984;

!tp3,1,1 !tl@beCommercial!sc ,1For!ttest!sc ,1Land@ee

!ixBoulder River Wilderness !tr25,600 acres

!ixClearwater Wilderness !tr10,300 acres

!ixHenry M. Jackson Wilderness !tr41,600 acres

!ixMt. Baker Wilderness !tr34,400 acres

!ixNoisy - Diobsud Wilderness !tr8,300 acres

!ixNorse Peak Wilderness !tr29,200 acres

!ixLake Chelan - Sawtooth Wilderness !tr46,400 acres

!ixWilliam O. Douglas Wilderness !tr128,200 acres

!ix Glacier View Wilderness !tr2,700 acres

!ixTatoosh Wilderness !tr9,000 acres

!ixMt. Adams Wilderness !tr17,400 acres

!ixIndian Heaven Wilderness !tr12,900 acres

!ixTrapper Creek Wilderness !tr4,900 acres

!ixBuckhorn Wilderness !tr12,000 acres

!ixColonel Bob Wilderness !tr9,200 acres

!ixMt. Skokomish Wilderness !tr6,400 acres

!ixThe Brothers Wilderness !tr8,700 acres

!ixWonder Mountain Wilderness !tr1,700 acres

!ixSalmo Priest Wilderness !tr25,000 acres

WHEREAS, The Forest Service has demonstrated throughout the National Forest Management Act planning process that the national forests in Washington have the capability of providing, on a sustained yield, multiple-use basis, a benchmark volume of 1.5 billion board feet of timber annually while meeting all obligations and requirements of law, including stringent measures to protect water, wildlife, fish, air, and soil; and

WHEREAS, The Forest Service planning process has treated timber production and the communities dependent upon that production as only a residual value of the federal forest lands in Washington; and

WHEREAS, The historical average timber sale volume from Washington national forests for the past five years prior to 1989 is 1.2 billion board feet, or 300 million board feet less than the benchmark volume; and

WHEREAS, National Forest Management Act plans now being finalized for Washington national forests propose a further thirty-three percent reduction in harvest levels from the remaining national forest lands; and

WHEREAS, Proposals to or before the Congress call for withdrawal of up to an additional forty percent of federal harvestable lands; and

WHEREAS, These withdrawals, some of which come from the Grays Harbor Federal Sustained Yield Unit, are inconsistent with fifty-year old promises made to communities who based their livelihoods upon such promises; and

WHEREAS, The reduction of available timber cannot be made up from the sale of additional timber above sustained yield levels from private lands and state trust lands; and

WHEREAS, Approximately 180,000 Washington citizens are directly or indirectly dependent on the forest products industry for their livelihoods, it being the state's second largest employer; and

WHEREAS, The office of the governor of the state of Washington has estimated that a forty-three percent decline in the Forest Service harvest level could result in a worst-case, one-time, job loss impact of over 18,000 jobs; and

WHEREAS, The social and economic infrastructures of many rural counties and communities in Washington state are highly dependent on the forest products industry; and

WHEREAS, Timber from federal forest lands has historically contributed more than twenty percent of the raw material for the state's forest products industry and, in many communities, federal forests supply the majority of the raw material; and

WHEREAS, The reduction in federal timber harvest will significantly reduce revenues to the state of Washington from virtually all of its major revenue sources: Sales taxes, business and occupation taxes, and timber harvest excise taxes, and will reduce revenues that support schools and county government from their share of federal stumpage receipts and reduces the property tax base; and

WHEREAS, Federal, not state, decisions have and will drastically affect the timber industry and all those jobs associated with it; and

WHEREAS, The United States Forest Service has been unable to ensure stability in timber supply or stable, long-term management of our nation's forests;

NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that:

(1) Congress recognize its historic commitment to the timber processing communities of the state of Washington to maintain a harvestable national forest acreage base that will sustain traditional, predictable, and historical average annual sales levels;

(2) Congress directs its attention to providing funds and direction to the United States Forest Service to achieve silviculturally sound management of those lands left for timber production to fully utilize those lands to produce the wood for our nation's many wood product uses;

(3) Congress recognize the investment that communities have made based on the belief that the Forest Service lands will produce a relatively stable timber sales level and that deviations from historical sales levels can cause a community economic and social distress;

(4) Congress appropriate funds to assist local communities affected by the reduction in historic timber sales level to be used for economic diversification, modernizing mills, and encouragement of additional manufacturing in Washington;

(5) Congress include in its commitment to protecting some lands from timber harvesting a commitment to practice innovative forest management on lands not suited to traditional timber harvesting and to use timber management practices on the remaining forest land base which will produce the highest possible timber yields consistent with prudent land management;

(6) Congress amend the National Forest Management Act planning process to recognize the economic needs of people, communities, and consumers and grant them equal status and consideration with the needs of environmental protection; and

(7) Congress enact capital gains and other tax legislation specifically related to the timber industry which will encourage rather than discourage investment in timber production on private lands; and

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 from the State of Washington.