Table Of Content

ft / WATERSHED AND HSH HABITAT DEGRADATION Y 4. R 31/3: 103-10 Uatershed and Fish Habitat Degradat... HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL PAKKS, FORESTS, AND PUBLIC LANDS OF THE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED THIRD CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON WATERSHED AND FISH HABITAT DEGRADATION ON PUBLIC LANDS AND NATIONAL FORESTS IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC MARCH 11, 1993 Serial No. 103-10 Printed for the use of the Committee on Natural Resources U.S. GOVERNMENT—PRINTING OFFKife^f^j^'r^t^ 67-643 WASHINGTON : 1993 '^^^^ttail^^I ti^ ^^2^^J&9^^ Forsaleby the U.S. Government Printing Office '^^'fs^ Superintendent ofDocuments, Congressional Sales Office. Washington, DC 20402 ' ^*'"" ISBN 0-16-040878-4 / WATERSHED AND HSH HABITAT DEGRADATION VV. Y 4. R 31/3; 103-10 Uatershed and Fisb Habitat Deeradat... HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL PARKS, FORESTS, AND PUBLIC LANDS OF THE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED THIRD CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON WATERSHED AND FISH HABITAT DEGRADATION ON PUBLIC LANDS AND NATIONAL FORESTS IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC MARCH 11, 1993 Serial No. 103-10 Printed for the use of the Committee on Natural Resources U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFld?'?C^''/^*, 67-643 WASHINGTON : 1993 ^^^^ft^^:*^ Forsale by the U.S. GovernmentPrinting Office " -^O?!? SuperintendentofDocuments. Congressional Sales Office. Washington, DC 20402 '''^^' ISBN 0-16-040878-4 COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES House of Representatives GEORGE MILLER, California, Chairman PHILIP R. SHARP, Indiana DON YOUNG, Alaska, EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts Ranking Republican Member AUSTIN J. MURPHY, Pennsylvania JAMES V. HANSEN, Utah NICK JOE RAHALL II, West Virginia BARBARA F. VUCANOVICH, Nevada BRUCE F. VENTO, Minnesota ELTON GALLEGLY, California PAT WILLIAMS, Montana ROBERT F. SMITH, Oregon RON DE LUGO, Virgin Islands CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming SAM GEJDENSON, Connecticut JOHN J. DUNCAN, Jr., Tennessee RICHARD H. LEHMAN, California JOEL HEFLEY, Colorado BILL RICHARDSON, New Mexico JOHN T. DOOLITTLE, California PETER A. DeFAZIO, Oregon WAYNE ALLARD, Colorado ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, RICHARD H. BAKER, Louisiana American Samoa KEN CALVERT, California TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota SCOTT McINNIS, Colorado LARRY LaROCCO, Idaho RICHARD W. POMBO, California NEIL ABERCROMBIE, Hawaii JAY DICKEY, Arkansas CALVIN M. DOOLEY, California CARLOS ROMERO-BARCELO, Puerto Rico KARAN ENGLISH, Arizona KAREN SHEPHERD, Utah NATHAN DEAL, Georgia MAURICE D. HINCHEY, New York ROBERT UNDERWOOD, Guam A. HOWARD L. BERMAN, California LANE EVANS, Illinois PATSY T. MINK, Hawaii THOMAS J. BARLOW III, Kentucky THOMAS M. BARRETT, Wisconsin Daniel P. Beard, StaffDirector Richard Meltzer, General Counsel Daniel Val Kish, Republican StaffDirector Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands BRUCE F. VENTO, Minnesota, Chairman EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts JAMES V. HANSEN, Utah, NICK JOE RAHALL II, West Virginia Ranking Republican Member PAT WILLIAMS, Montana ROBERT F. SMITH, Oregon PETER A. DeFAZIO, Oregon CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota JOHN J. DUNCAN, Jr., Tennessee LARRY LaROCCO, Idaho JOEL HEFLEY, Colorado NEIL ABERCROMBIE, Hawaii JOHN T. DOOLITTLE, California CARLOS ROMERO-BARCELO, Puerto Rico RICHARD H. BAKER, Louisiana KARAN ENGLISH, Arizona KEN CALVERT, California KAREN SHEPHERD, Utah JAY DICKEY, Arkansas MAURICE D. HINCHEY, New York ROBERT UNDERWOOD, Guam A. AUSTIN J. MURPHY, Pennsylvania BILL RICHARDSON, New Mexico PATSY T. MINK, Hawaii Richard Healy, StaffDirector James Bradley, Professional Staff Member Tonya Mitchem, StaffAssistant Charlene Seamens, Clerk D. Lee Forsgren, Republican Counsel on Lands and Forestry (ID CONTENTS Page Hearing held: March 11, 1993 1 Statements: Opening statement ofChairman Vento 1 Hon. James V. Hansen, a U.S. Representative from the State ofUtah 3 Hon. Ken Calvert, a U.S. Representative from the State ofCalifornia 4 Hon. Norman D. Dicks, a U.S. Representative from the State ofWashing- ton 5 Panel consisting of: George Leonard, Associate Chief, Forest Service, U.S. Department ofAgriculture, accompanied bv Dr. James Sedell and Dr. Frederick Swanson, Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, OR Corvallis, 12 Michael Penfold, Associate Director, Bureau of Land Management, Department ofthe Interior, accompanied by Jack Williams, Bureau of Land Management Science Advisor, and Ron Kaufman, District Manager, Eugene, OR 31 Michael F. Tillman, Acting Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmos- pheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, accompanied by Nicholas ladanza. Chief, Habitat Conservation Branch, Northwest Region, Portland, OR 43 Gary Edwards, Assistant Director ofFisheries, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Department ofthe Interior 56 Panel consisting of: Bob Doppelt, executive director. Pacific Rivers Council, Eugene, OR 86 .. Chris Frissell, researcher. Oak Creek Laboratory, Oregon State Uni- OR versity, Corwallis, 99 Pat Higgins, fisheries biologist, the Northwest Chapter of the Amer- ican Fisheries Society and Pacific Watershed Associates Ill John F. Palmisano, independent fisheries scientist, representing Northwest Forest F-esource Council, Portland, OR 118 Reports submitted by Dr. Palmisano: 1. Summary Presentation of "The Impact of Environmental and Management Factors on Washington's Wild Anad- romous Salmon and Trout," March 1993 123 2. Executive Summary and Comparisons of Two Pacific Northwest Studies on the Decline of Wild Anadromous Salmon and Trout 138 Panel consisting of: Thomas J. Cassidy, Jr., general manager, American Rivers, Washing- DC ton, 147 Thane Tiensen, council, Salmon For All, Portland, OR "...!!".".' 158 Ray J. White, science adviser, Washington Chapter, Trout Unlimited, WA Edmonds, 165 George G. Ice, forest hydrologist. National Council of the Paper In- dustry for Air and Stream Improvement, Philomouth, OR 179 APPENDIX March 11, 1993 Additional material submitted for the hearing record: Correspondence from Dr. John F. Palmisano dated March 16, 1993, re- garding corrections and additions to the hearing ofMarch 11, 1993 197 (III) WATERSHED AND FISH HABITAT DEGRADA- TION ON PUBLIC LANDS AND NATIONAL FORESTS IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 1993 House of Representatives, Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on National Parks, For- ests AND Public Lands, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10 a.m. in room 2253, Raybum House Office Building, Hon. Bruce F. Vento (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAHIMAN VENTO Mr. Vento. The meeting will come to order. We have tight quar- ters here. In fact these days it is hard to get rooms to hold our hearings. I think as a committee we came up short in terms of rooms, but I guess we have an historically preserved room. In any case, we have an ambitious agenda this morning and into the afternoon with a series ofvotes scheduled on the Floor, and I'm sure other Members have business as I do. So we will try to make it a successful hearing in terms of listening to our witnesses and maybe getting some dialogue on this important topic. Yesterday, of course, the President began the season on the topic of problems in the Pacific Northwest by keeping his commitment to hold a forest summit in early April. So we look forward to that, to the administration's positive involvement in bringing together all the resources of the national government, all the agencies and departments into a coherent policy dealing with the series of problems with the temporate rain forests ofthe Pacific Northwest. Today, of course, we're focusing on one important aspect of that in terms of the land management and the impact on the fisheries in the Pacific Northwest. The American people have a spectacular natural resource, the salmon and steelhead runs that extend from the Pacific to central Idaho. Two summers ago I stood on the banks of a small stream in the Chamberlain Basin, in the heart of Idaho's Frank Church- River of No Return wilderness and watched a Chinook king salmon, a beat-up fish, that had traveled almost a thousand miles fi'om the ocean to return to it is birthplace to spawn. I felt a sense of awe, as I'm sure most of you would standing in my shoes, witness- ing this phenomenon, because this salmon was one of only a few left in a salmon run that some time ago numbered in the thou- (1) sands. If we were to go back to that same spot this summer we may not see any salmon at all. The fact is that the Pacific Northwest is losing forever the salmon and steelhead populations. Races of fish varieties, in scientific terms, are being lost forever. Four populations of salmonids are al- ready listed under the Endangered Species Act; 214 populations are considered at risk of extinction and may soon be listed. Steps must be taken now to prevent the wholesale loss of this priceless fishery. Not only are our anadromous fish valuable as part of the Nation's biological diversity and gene pool, but these salmon are a big contributor to the economy of the region. In the Pacific Northwest, the salmon fishery generates $1 billion in annual income and 60,000 jobs. This is a renewable resource every year and is better than money in the bank. What is causing this tragedy? Some blame the dams and water projects in the Columbia River system, which certainly are a sig- nificant factor. However, many of the salmon and steelhead runs identified by scientists as at risk are found in river systems outside of the Columbia Basin, river systems which have no dams at all. Other factors besides water projects are apparently contributing to the decline. This hearing will focus on just such other factors, pointedly the destruction and modification of salmon habitat. Without high quality fish spawning and rearing habitat, the remaining populations 01 salmon and steelhead are simply doomed to extinction. The last high quality, undergraded habitat remaining in the Pacific North- west is on lands managed by the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. These two agencies have the potential to play a major role in saving salmon and steelhead for future genera- tions ofAmericans. BLM Unfortunately, the Forest Service and have not lived up to such a role. In fact, their past and current policies and programs are contributing on a documented basis to the destruction of habitat for salmonid populations. Logging, road building, and livestock grazing in watersheds critical to the survival of salmon and steelhead are causing erosion and sedimentation to degrade spawning and rearing habitat. Not only must these practices be arrested £ind/or stopped, but the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management must launch new programs to stabilize and restore the watersheds under their stewardship. As their timber program in the Pacific Northwest declines, these two agencies could refocus and give new emphasis to recreation, wilderness, wildlife and fish. For every timber job impacted, both within the agencies and in the BLM private sector, the Forest Service and could employ workers to rehabilitate, restore, and enhance in an environmentally positive way our national forests and public domain lands. Studies, in fact, show that 11,000 people annually could be put to work just on sta- bilizing watersheds key to the survival of salmon and steelhead, supporting the 60,000 jobs and $1 billion fishery base of the Pacific Northwest. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses on how the Forest BLM Service and can protect watersheds and fish. As their timber programs in the Pacific Northwest decline, these two agencies could refocus and give new emphasis to recreation wilderness, wildlife and fish. For every timber job impacted, both within the agencies and in the private sector, the Forest Service and BLM could employ workers to rehabilitate, restore, and enhance in an environmentally positive way our national forests and public domain lands. Studies show that 11,000 people annually could be put to work just on stabilized watersheds, key to the survival of the salmon and the steelhead, supporting the 60,000 jobs and the $1 billion fishery base in the Pacific Northwest. So I think this is a prudent way to move. I must say that as we gain more insight into these problems and the scientific data which support them, obviously it is of paramount importance that we make the changes in our land management plans to reflect that knowledge and to set new goals and a policy path which will, of course, attain the goals and concur or follow the laws and policies that we have, such as the Endangered Species Act. So I think that while we may talk about Forest Service and BLM and public land management problems in the past, today we have the information, and I think it is imperative that we move and craft policy and land manage—ment plans on that basis. The gentleman from Idaho from Utah. Mr. Hansen. That was George Hansen. I am not related in any way shape or form. And I have a great appreciation for George. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, the gentleman from Wisconsin. It is nice to be Chairman Vento. We have always wanted a piece of Wisconsin. Mr. Hansen. We always wanted a piece of Idaho, too, and Ari- zona if I may be picky about it. STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES V. HANSEN, A U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM THE STATE OF UTAH Mr. Hansen. I don't know how to respond to this. This is age- old stuff we have gone through so many times on this committee. We are here to review one species versus something else. When you get into this thing, you can accept a lot of premises. It is like going to court and listening to people testify about what this witness is like. Is it a malingerer or somebody trying to build an unfair case? You wonder who is really right. I am sure today we will hear testimony that will say that it is the logging, that they caused the whole thing; and another person will say it is the construction of dams; another person will say it is the drought; and another person will probably say it is overfished; and another person will say it is hatchery fish versus the other one. And it is hard to figure out who is really right in these particular situations of who does these things. I would hope that the subcommittee is a little hesitant and not in a big hunr to start placing blame and pointing fingers. That probably wouldn't answer the question adequately and sincerely and honestly. I think we have a habit of reacting to things when sometimes we are not sure what the problem is that is facing us. I look forward to the hearings because similar situations are hap- pening all over the United States. I think we have to move with some restraint on a very positive thing with a lot of information before we go out and mess something up. I recall when I was speaker of the Utah house and the Governor of the State was a man by the name of Scott Mathison. And he came up and said, I'd like you guys to pass a law that we don't allow any more eggheads from the academic community to come in here and tell us what is an endangered species, because they are ruining a part of our State; and I think they are wrong, and it is so easy to get them listed and hard to get them off. We I worry about the endangered species law. have seen very little that have gotten off the list. No disrespect to any particular en- tity here. I would hope that we move with a sensitive approach and not be eager to point a finger and say that they are wrong, and do something that would ruin an industry. Prices of houses are going up $3,000 to $4,000 a house because of the lumber prices. In the little State of Utah we have Kaibab In- dustries in the Dixie Forest that have closed up. Every time they ask for a contract, some environmental group comes up with a 29- cent appeal. All it costs is a stamp on an envelope and something written on the back of it. And I think if we are going to look at something, we ought to look at that. Thank you for allowing me to vent my emotions on that. Mr. Vento. The way you were going, I thought you were going to blame the fishermen. Any other opening comments? STATEMENT OF HON. KEN CALVERT, A REPRESENTATIVE U.S. FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA Mr. Calvert. The issue which we are meeting today is a complex one, and in the best economic times, it would be difficult to balance the interests of salmon fishermen, home builders, home buyers, the spotted owl and numerous fish species. With the economy in the shape that it is, the issue becomes even more difficult. As a congressman from California whose district has nearly 10 percent unemployment, I must confess that my sympathies are with those people who need jobs. While I recognize the importance of protecting species, I hope we can find ways of doing it without throwing hundreds of thousands of workers out of work. I certainly have no objections to reviewing past management practices of any type. The management of every Federal agency and committee, in my opinion, could stand a good review; but I hope those from whom we will hear today will include, along with their ideas of protecting the salmon, some ideas of how to protect and create jobs for the American worker. As an elected representative of the people, I believe we have an obligation to protect jobs as well as species of fish. Mr. Vento. We are pleased to welcome our colleague from Wash- ington, a good friend and classmate of the chairman. Congressman Norm Dicks.