Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for leading on such an important issue.

The forest products industry was a sustainable sector of the American economy that helped produce a hard working mentality across this nation. Unfortunately, the industry has been a victim of government regulations and policies, an impenetrable web of red tape and lawsuits, and sensational campaigns by environmentalists that created a “hands off” approach to forest management. Today, more and more forest product companies are struggling to stay in business.

An obvious indicator of this problem is the collapse of the Forest Service timber sale program--averaging around 11 billion board feet annually for decades, it has plummeted to less than 2 billion board feet in the last couple years (see chart 1). The resulting job losses have been directly proportional (see chart 2). In California alone, 26% of its remaining mills have closed in the last five years.

This comes at a time when forest growth greatly exceeds fuel and timber removals, exacerbating a critical problem already existing on 190 million acres of federal lands. The case in the forest industry is clear: as the jobs disappeared, the vitality of our forests declined and the incidence of catastrophic fire skyrocketed. In essence we have, and are, effectively eliminating the skilled labor we need to treat our forests and put unemployed Americans back to work.

So it is appropriate that the first hearing of the Forest and Forests Health Subcommittee this year be on the issue of jobs, particularly because it will be necessary to rebuild a skilled workforce in order to effectively implement the Healthy Forests Restoration Act.

I'd like to thank the panelists for coming here today to share your thoughts on this timely and important issue.