Resilient Federal Forests Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, Pennsylvania's Fifth Congressional District, which I am proud to represent, includes the Allegheny National Forest. The forest covers more than 500,000 acres, and the use of its hardwoods has supported the communities of the Elk, Forest, McKean, and Warren Counties for generations.

Mr. Speaker, since these small towns depend on the harvesting of trees from the Allegheny National Forest, I am deeply concerned by the news that, while the amount of timber cut in the forest has increased in recent years, the number sold has sharply declined.

In fact, timber sales have gone down 19 percent in the past 5 years. Furthermore, a majority of the timber harvested is being sold as pulp and not as the high-value hardwood which is used to create furniture, flooring, and as veneers.

This is one of the reasons I cosponsored the Resilient Federal Forests Act, which passed the House earlier this year, as it would enhance the management efforts in our national forests to make sure our quality hardwoods are being used in the right ways.

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