I
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2153
To designate the Giant Sequoia National Forest Preserve in the State of
California, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 19, 1993
Mr. BROWN of California (for himself, Mr. BEILENSON, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr.
WAXMAN, Mr. DELLUMS, Ms. SCHENK, Mr. EDWARDS of California, Mr.
BERMAN, Mr. STARK, and Ms. ESHOO) introduced the following bill;
which was referred jointly to the Committees on Natural Resources and
Agriculture
A BILL
To designate the Giant Sequoia National Forest Preserve
in the State of California, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Giant Sequoia Preser-
vation Act of 1993’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds and declares the following:
(1) The Giant Sequoia trees (Sequoiadendron
giganteum), the largest of all trees and the most
majestic of all living things, are native to only a
small part of the Sierra Nevada range in California.
The Giant Sequoia groves and other ancient forests
located within Sequoia National Forest are a unique
national treasure that should be passed on intact for
the benefit and enjoyment of future generations.
(2) The Giant Sequoias are named for the
Cherokee Indian Sequoya, a giant among his people
as the creator of the Cherokee alphabet.
(3) The Giant Sequoias are plant relatives of
the Coastal Redwoods of California, the Dawn Red-
woods of China, and the Bald Cypress of the Amer-
ican South.
(4) Most of all the Giant Sequoia trees in the
entire world are within the boundaries of the Se-
quoia National Forest; these trees and their environs
are currently unprotected statutorily from logging,
development, and other impacts resulting from
human activity.
(5) The ancient forests located in the Sequoia
and Sierra National Forests provide unique and un-
paralleled opportunities for scientific study and re-
search.
(6) The ancient forests of the Sequoia and Si-
erra National Forests are the homes of endemic,
rare, threatened, and endangered species of plants
and wildlife; further destruction and diminution of
the forest can only accelerate the extirpation or ex-
tinction of said species.
(7) The ancient forests of the Sequoia and Si-
erra National Forests can and do provide outstand-
ing and unique recreational opportunities for our
Nation’s people.
(8) The ancient forests of the Sequoia and Si-
erra National Forests retain and release water, thus
guaranteeing a steady and assured supply of clean,
high-quality water for agricultural, industrial, mu-
nicipal, animal, environmental, and recreational pur-
poses.
(9) The most valuable aspect of the Sequoia
and Sierra National Forests is their intact, natural
ecosystems, which have developed over tens of thou-
sands of years; such ecosystems are not renewable
for many centuries after logging, if at all.
(10) The policy of the United States Forest
Service has been to encourage logging of ancient for-
est habitats, including that of the Giant Sequoias.
(11) At the current rate of logging in the Se-
quoia National Forest, it is estimated that all of the
ecologically significant unprotected forests will be de-
stroyed within 7 to 8 years.
(12) Removal of timber from the Sequoia Na-
tional Forest is done at a net loss to the United
States Treasury of more than $8,000,000 annually,
over and above the amounts appropriated annually
by the Congress for the administration and oper-
ation of the Forest.
(13) Direct and indirect employment afforded
as part of the logging in the Sequoia and Sierra Na-
tional Forests will decline with reduction of the vol-
ume of native forest and with compliance with envi-
ronmental laws. Workers paid by private interests
for felling, hauling, and milling trees within the
boundaries of the Preserve established by this Act
are subsidized by United States taxpayers.
(14) At current and prospective rates of logging
under the United States Forest Service’s present
‘‘Sequoia National Forest Plan’’, the forest is being
removed at more than double the sustainable rate.
(15) United States Forest Service figures show
the recreational value of the Sequoia National For-
est to be more than 6 times that of timber extrac-
tion, yet recreational values, and the opportunities
for gainful employment associated therewith, are se-
riously and permanently eroded under past and
present management of the Forest.
(16) Private-property values within and around
the area affected by provisions of this Act, which are
now adversely impacted by logging and associated
activities, will be enhanced by the cessation of such
activities, and opportunities for new businesses com-
patible with forest and ecosystem preservation will
appear.
(17) Sequoia National Forest adjoins Sequoia
National Park on the north and south, surrounds
the Redwood Mountain and Grant Grove sections of
Kings Canyon National Park, and with the Sierra
National Forest bounds the entire west side of the
main part of Kings Canyon National Park. Logging
on the Sequoia National Forest severely impacts the
views from and between these parks and from the
celebrated Generals’ Highway connecting them. Add-
ing to the negative impacts is the traffic of logging
trucks using the public highways adjacent to the
parks. Among the Sequoia groves in and adjacent to
the Kings River watershed, where visitors expect na-
tional-park conditions, logging operations spoil the
experience for many, including visitors to the Mon-
arch and Jennie Lakes Wildernesses, which abut the
timber sales. Moreover, debris and soil eroded from
logging and formerly logged areas are carried down
slopes and streams into the once-pristine Sequoia
groves of the Monarch Wilderness, and into the
Kings River.
(18) One of the fundamental purposes of this
Preserve is to conserve the stands of Sequoiadendron
giganteum and other ancient trees, along with con-
necting and associated forests and other Federal
lands, including cut-over and otherwise damaged for-
est land, within a portion of the Sequoia National
Forest and a portion of the Sierra National Forest,
and to conserve and restore the scenery, natural ob-
jects and wildlife, and to provide for the enjoyment
of the same in such manner and by such means as
will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment and
amazement of future generations and for the devel-
opment of scientific information.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
(a) As used in this Act, the term ‘‘National Forest
Preserve’’ means forested land or land in close association
with forests within existing National Forests or on other
United States public land that is dedicated in perpetuity
for scientific study, recreational activity, and/or environ-
mental protection, and on which commercial timber har-
vest or further commercial or private development is pro-
hibited.
(b) The term ‘‘the Secretary’’ means the Secretary
of Agriculture, except as otherwise expressly provided.
SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE GIANT SEQUOIA NA-
TIONAL FOREST PRESERVE.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—In furtherance of the pur-
poses of this Act, certain federally owned lands within the
Sequoia and Sierra National Forests in the State of Cali-
fornia, which comprise approximately 442,425 acres as
generally depicted on a map entitled, ‘‘Giant Sequoia Na-
tional Forest Preserve, 1993’’, dated lll and num-
bered lll are hereby designated as the Giant Sequoia
National Forest Preserve (hereafter in this Act referred
to as the ‘‘Preserve’’).
(b) MAP AND LEGAL DESCRIPTION.—(1) Not later
than 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act,
the Secretary shall file a map and a legal description of
the Preserve established under subsection (a) with the
Committee on Natural Resources and the Committee on
Agriculture of the United States House of Representatives
and with Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
and the Committee on Agriculture, Forestry, and Nutri-
tion of the United States Senate. Such map and descrip-
tion shall have the same force and effect as if included
in this Act. Such map and description shall be made avail-
able for public inspection in the office of the Forest Super-
visor, Sequoia National Forest, in the office of the Re-
gional Forester, United States Forest Service, Region 5,
in the office of the Superintendent, Sequoia National
Park, in the office of the Director, National Park Service,
Department of the Interior and in the office of the Chief
of the Forest Service, Department of Agriculture.
(2) The Secretary may correct clerical and typo-
graphical errors in the legal description referred to in
paragraph (1).
SEC. 5. PURPOSES.
(a) RESOURCE PROTECTION AND RESTORATION.—
The Preserve shall be established to protect and restore
the ecological, botanical, zoological, biological, scientific,
aquatic, atmospheric, scenic, and recreational resources of
the area within its boundaries.
(b) SEQUOIA GROVES AND FOREST ECOSYSTEM.—
The Preserve shall be established to protect the Giant Se-
quoia groves as well as all contiguous forests within the
boundaries of the Preserve, and to restore the entire forest
ecosystem within the boundaries of the Preserve to a natu-
ral state.
(c) HABITAT.—The Preserve shall provide optimum
habitat for all naturally occurring species, in accordance
with the Endangered Species Act.
(d) RECREATION, INTERPRETATION, STUDY.—The
Preserve shall provide opportunities for recreation, inter-
pretation, and scientific study consistent with the other
purposes of this Act.
(e) WATER, AIR, AND SCENIC QUALITY.—The Pre-
serve shall provide optimum water quality, air quality, and
scenic quality within its boundaries, consistent with the
provisions of all other Federal and State laws.
(f) PROHIBITION.—No activities shall be permitted
within the Preserve that are inconsistent with the pur-
poses listed in subsections (a) through (e).
SEC. 6. SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is hereby established
the Giant Sequoia Scientific Advisory Board (hereinafter
referred to as the ‘‘Board’’). The Secretary shall consult
and seek the advice and recommendations of the Board
with respect to—
(1) the measures needed to protect and manage
the natural and scientific values of the Preserve; and
(2) the administration of the Preserve with re-
spect to policies, programs, and activities which are
specifically intended to retain and restore the natu-
ral ecological processes of the Preserve, with special
attention to preservation of the ancient forest
ecosystems, including those of the Giant Sequoias.
The Board may make recommendations to the Secretary
with regard to new research opportunities which may exist
within the Preserve designed to gain scientific information
for future interpretation of the ecology and evolution of
this area, to add to the understanding of the importance
of natural systems, and to enhance enjoyment by visitors
to the Preserve. The Board shall encourage public partici-
pation in connection with such recommendations and re-
quest public input before making such proposals to the
Secretary and before any meeting between the Secretary
and the Board as referenced in subsection (e) of this sec-
tion. No recommendation by the Board shall be binding
upon the Secretary.
(b) MEMBERSHIP.—The Board shall be composed of
members, who shall be appointed by the Secretary as
follows:
(1) Three members from several persons rec-
ommended by the Chief of the Forest Service, to in-
clude (A) a forest ecologist to serve as Chair of the
Board, (B) a forest microbiologist, and (C) a con-
servation biologist, all of whom may be employees of
the Forest Service.
(2) Three members from several persons rec-
ommended by the National Academy of Sciences, to
include (A) a hydrologist with expertise on Sierra
Nevada watersheds, (B) a wildlife biologist, and (C)
a fisheries biologist.
(3) Three members from several persons rec-
ommended by the California Academy of Sciences, to
include (A) a plant biologist with expertise on
Sequoiadendron giganteum, (B) a soil scientist with
expertise on the Sierra Nevada, (C) a lay person
from a nongovernmental noncommercial organization
dedicated to the conservation of natural resources in
the Sierra Nevada.
(c) TERMS.—Each member of the Board shall be ap-
pointed to serve for a term of 3 years, except that one
of the initial appointees of each nominating official or or-
ganization shall serve an initial term of 4 years, one of
the initial appointees of each nominating official shall
serve an initial term of 2 years, and one of the initial ap-
pointees of each nominating official shall serve an initial
term of 1 year.
(d) APPOINTMENT.—The members of the Board shall
be appointed within 90 days of the date of enactment of
this Act.