Date: 1999-07-14
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the requisite number of words. Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong support of this amendment offered by the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Wu) and the gentlewoman from Oregon to transfer this money from the Timber Sales Preparation Fund. The people opposed to this amendment are acting like this amendment would zero it out. There is $197 million left in this fund. But the fact is the gentleman from South Carolina got up earlier and talked about what a loser the Forest Service was. We have spent $1.2 billion preparing Forest Service sales. and we have gotten $1.8 billion out of those sales. and only $125 million came into the Treasury. What this amendment says is that there is a more productive area to put the money to use. The fact of the matter is for $125 million we have gotten into the Treasury after all of these sales because we ended up subsidizing all of these sales and built the roads. The fact of the matter is there isa much better place. In the western United States two out of three fishermen fish on the Forest Service lands. That is $8.5 billion annually to the economy. a billion dollars in my State of California alone. In fact. with the proper use of these forests. they are huge economic engines to local communities and States where people can use them for multiple purpose reasons. But the fact of the matter is many of these forests are in a shambles in the watersheds and in the way they have been treated in the past. We can go into southern Oregon and northern California and find forests that were logged in the 1960s and the 1970s and that are in a complete shambles and have not been reforested. The watersheds are damaged. and we are losing the salmon fisheries. And all of that is sustainable economy. All of that drives the resort communities. the tourism. the gas stations and all the business in those areas. So we can get a better return on the investment we make with this money by putting it into the rehabilitation of the watersheds. the rehabilitation of the fish and the wildlife from the scars that have been left in the past of the previous forest practices which were never sustainable and have done a great deal of damage to our forests in this area. This is about a smart economic decision for the communities that are surrounding these forests. This is about protecting the clean water supplies for urban areas. In California. a huge amount of our water is stored in those forests. in those watersheds. We are struggling. spending additional Federal dollars to try to clean up that water so that we can continue to consume it in the State of California. So this is very. very smart use of this money. rather than to continue to put it into sales where we do not generate the kind of revenues that have continued to be a loser. that is a subject of all the GAO reports. money that goes into slush funds. This is the amendment that takes care of that problem. Mr. Chairman. this is about the wise investment. the wise investment in our forests. in management of those forests for all of these purposes and for all of these uses so that we can have improved watersheds. we can stop the decline in the fisheries. we can increase the tourism economy in so many of these communities and we can increase the health of the forests. This is where the money should be spent and the House should support the amendment of the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Wu) and the gentlewoman from Oregon to increase and improve the forest health of this Nation. Mr. WU. Mr. Chairman. will the gentleman yield?