Other statutes, the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978, and the 1990 Farm Bill Forestry Title, for example, take a cooperative, incentive based approach to non-federal forests. This cooperative approach is vital on issues that cross ownership boundaries, such as watersheds, forest insects and disease, and particularly wildfire. Adequate funding is essential if the program is to reach non-industrial private landowners, only about 10 percent of whom have written management plans for their land. Even worse, the majority of timber sales on private lands go forward without the benefit of professional forestry advice. While this may seem like merely a problem of poor business practices, we in the forestry profession view it as a serious threat to the long-term sustainability of the nation's forest resources.
Private land has public value.
That is why we actively support programs that increase the amount of forestry advice available to non-industrial private forest landowners. In addition to private sector consulting and industry efforts, extension programs, and other mechanisms, we believe the State and Private forestry programs can help both public and private sector foresters meet these challenges. There has been a general clamor for increased funding for forestry research since the publication of the 1990 RPA program report, which identified improving scientific knowledge about natural resources as a high priority. The 1997 NRC report entitled Forested Landscapes in Perspective , which focused on the needs of non-industrial private landowners, continued to report that information needs were not being met. SAF is concerned about the relatively stagnant Forest Service research budget of the last few years, but have been encouraged by recent modest increases, and we thank the Committee for that support.