| WASHINGTON
- October 19 - The Sierra Club today applauded a new General Accounting
Office (GAO) report exposing the U.S. Forest Service's financial
mismanagement of America's National Forests. The GAO attempted to
investigate how much money taxpayers lost by subsidizing logging on our
National Forests, but was stymied by what it called the Forest Service's
"totally unreliable" accounting practices."
"The Forest Service mismanages our National Forests so badly that
government investigators can't even figure out how much of our tax money
they're losing," said Sean Cosgrove, Sierra Club's forest policy
specialist. "The billions of tax dollars lost on timber industry logging
would be much better spent restoring our damaged National Forests. Reading
this report on the Forest Service's gross mismanagement, the only sensible
conclusion is to end commercial logging in America's National Forests."
In March 2000, Representatives Cynthia McKinney (D-Georgia) and George
Miller (D-California) requested that the GAO investigate how much money the
U.S. Forest Service's Timber Sales Program lost in 1998 and 1999. After a
year and a half of investigation, the GAO concluded: "ultimately it was the
serious accounting and financial reporting deficiencies that existed at the
Forest Service during fiscal years 1998 and 1999 that precluded us from
making an accurate determination of the total federal costs. ... These
deficiencies rendered the Forest Service's cost information totally
unreliable." (GAO-01-1101R Forest Service Timber Costs)
A previous GAO study of data from 1992-1997 found that the Forest Service
lost $2 billion in tax money subsidizing timber industry logging in our
National Forests. As logging in our National Forests continues, taxpayers
continue to lose money.
"Americans love to take their families hiking, hunting, fishing and
birdwatching in our National Forests, and these forests provide clean
drinking water to 60 million people," Cosgrove said. "But no one wants to
take their kids hiking through a clearcuts, and communities can't drink
water from a stream polluted by logging roads run-off."
America's 155 National Forests draw 835 million visitors a year to their
4,400 campgrounds, 121,000 miles of trails and 96 wild-and-scenic rivers.
Some 10,000 different plants and 3,000 kinds of fish and wildlife --
including 230 endangered species -- rely on National Forests for habitat.
A study conducted last year by the independent economic analysis firm
ECONorthwest found that recreation in America's National Forests generates
25 times more income for the U.S. economy than does logging on those lands.
The Sierra Club's campaign to end commercial logging on our National
Forests is committed to protecting America's wild heritage for our families
and for our future.
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