SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL PARKS, FORESTS AND PUBLIC LANDS
Cowlitz County Expo and Conference Center, 1900 7^th Avenue, Longview, Washington
Monday, May 21, 2012
9:00 a.m. Pacific Time

• Official Hearing Transcript
• Press Release - Northwest Federal Forest Regulations Have Devastated Forest Health, Local Economies With Little Benefit to Northern Spotted Owl (5/21/2012)

OVERSIGHT FIELD HEARING ON:

• "Failed Federal Forest Policies: Endangering Jobs, Forests and Species"

Watch the Archived Hearing Webcast:

WITNESSES AND TESTIMONY:

The Honorable Doc Hastings
Full Committee Chairman

The Honorable Jamie Herrera Beutler
Member of Congress

Panel I

The Honorable Paul Pearce
Chairman
Skamania County Commissioner
Stevenson, WA 

Tom Fox
President
Family Forest Foundation
Ethel, WA
(Truth in Testimony Form)

Dr. Hal Salwasser
Cheryl Ramberg and Allyn C. Ford Dean of the College of Forestry
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR
(Truth in Testimony Form)

Stephen Mealey
Vice President of Conservation
Boone & Crockett Club
Springfield, OR
(Truth in Testimony Form)

Kent Connaughton
Pacific NW Regional Forester
U.S. Forest Service
Portland, OR

Bob Abbey (or designee)
Bureau of Land Management

Mitch Friedman
Executive Director
Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
Bellingham, WA
(Truth in Testimony Form)

Ernie Niemi
Senior Economist
EcoNorthwest
Eugene, OR
(Truth in Testimony Form)

Kelly Kreps
Kreps Ranch, LLC
White Salmon, WA
(Truth in Testimony Form)

Tom Nelson
Washington Timberlands Manager
Sierra Pacific Industries
Mt. Vernon, WA
(Truth in Testimony Form)

BACKGROUND:

This hearing will examine how federal administering of the Northwest Forest Plan and Endangered Species Act has affected local economies, forest health and the Northern Spotted Owl. In 1990, the Northern Spotted Owl was listed under the Endangered Species Act and as a result, the Northwest federal forest management regime was established. Still in effect, the Northwest Forest Plan has proven to be been a failure. The management plan has been driven by lawsuits as opposed to sound science, caused active forest management to plummet, failed in its mission of protecting the Northern Spotted Owl, and contributed to the deterioration of forest health. The Obama administration recently released a new critical habitat proposal for the Northern Spotted Owl that would replace the current management plan. It would place huge portions of Washington, Oregon and California off limits to economic development and could indirectly impact over 19,000 Northwest jobs tied to private lands. The proposed plan also fails to adequately address the most serious threat to the Spotted Owl – the Barred Owl.