This is not something from the 90s. I don't want to belabor.

Simply put, NEPA requires federal decision-making to be rational, informed, participatory, and accountable.

Federal lands should remain under federal control and be managed for the best use with respect to public needs and desires.

You've got to come to one of my town hall meetings because the problem is now.

The fact is current forestry programs do not provide a stable source of funding of jobs or funding for local communities.

Too often valuable timber lands are neglected to the point they become tinder boxes for catastrophic fire.

I want to use for my analogy the Eugene District of the BLM.

Congress should not continue to sit on the sideline while the agency engages in endless gymnastics in the hopes that it will satisfy the courts.

Instead of generating revenue, too often Federal forest lands have become a burden to our taxpayers.

I would agree with your opening statement and endorse the concept of providing stronger support and protection or limits to litigation for projects derived from a collaborative process.

Senator Wyden; and Representatives DeFazio, Walden, and Schrader have initiated collaborative efforts to better understand and address these multifaceted concerns.

The status quo is unacceptable.

In my view too many of our forestry programs are not working for forest-dependent communities, for taxpayers or for the cause of protecting America's natural treasures.

Senator Wyden's legislative framework suggests the creation of wilderness and other permanent land use designations whose primary management focus will be to maintain and enhance conservation attributes.

People come and say, well, Ron, all the harvest is going to be outside the small rural areas and they're still going to get flattened.

Senator Wyden's framework aspires to generate legislation to safeguard clean water and treasured resources and focus on long term conservation of habitat.

The idea that we may 'modernize' federal laws suggests sufficiency language, which would deny the public the right to review forest management.

I believe we should highlight the successes of collaboration and incentivize collaborative efforts to get restoration work accomplished.

there certainly is a lot of discussion--and understandably so--about the fact that so often there really aren't bipartisan efforts here in the Senate on major issues. We can turn on practically any talk show in America, and the constant…

We look forward to working with you, Senator Wyden and this committee, to solve these problems.

I'm grateful for your leadership in holding this important hearing.

My own sense is this will require legislation.

I would like to thank Chairman Wyden, Ranking Member Murkowski, and the entire Committee for taking the time to hear testimony on this issue which is vitally important to every resident of the Klamath River watershed.

We're going to stay at it until we find a solution this time.

Here's the point. A lot of you have said Ron, I'd really like you to crack heads.