Opening the first of the Committee's June forest science hearings, Chairman Smith pledged to pursue independent, peer-reviewed science. In early July, the Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing on the federal government's Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Plan. We're quickening our pace and focusing the Committee's efforts on forestry more clearly and deeply than ever before.
Federal neglect continues to put our forests at risk.
By not managing our forests, we mismanage them. The likelihood of forest health legislation that is national in scope is growing and that legislation will be based upon real, peer-reviewed science. Chairman Smith has made forest health a priority for the Agriculture Committee in the 105 th Congress. In January, the Full Committee held a hearing in Sunriver, Oregon to learn about the state of forests in the Pacific Northwest. The Committee has also held a hearing to examine a Price Waterhouse report, finding that the Forest Service's timber road credit program does not constitute a subsidy to the timber industry.