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Regular annual consultations are held among concerned agencies of Canada, the State of Alaska, and U.S. agencies (principally MMS, NOAA, the U. S. Coast Guard, and the Department of State) involved in the development of the oil and gas resources of the Beaufort Sea. Also, the Alaska Regional Response Team holds annual meetings with Canada on oil spill response, including holding mock oil spill response drills.

Under a Memorandum of Understanding with the United Kingdom's Department of Energy (UK/DOE), MMS and UK/DOE are conducting cooperative projects on risk analysis and on behavioral characteristics of steels in the ocean environment as used in the exploration and development of offshore oil fields. Under the Memorandum of Understanding with the United Kingdom's Department of Energy, information is shared between MMS and UK/DOE on various projects related to oil spill risk analyses and characteristics of steels used with ocean environments. There is no financial commitment on either party, but reports are shared and discussions conducted with the principal investigator from both countries.

A proposed Memorandum of Agreement is under discussion with Environment/Canada, the department responsible for handling environmental matters for the Canadian Government, on potential joint research programs concerning arctic oil and gas operations. One of these potential programs concerns methods for control of oil spills in ice-covered waters; a second potential program involves methods for protection of oil spill collection booms from floating ice. Programs such as these will provide technical information available to all nations in the control of oil spills in arctic and antarctic environments.

The major vehicle for cooperation with Japan is the United States-Japan Cooperative Program in Natural Resources. This Council was set up to exchange information on various resource issues. The MMS participates in both the Marine Mining Panel and the Marine Facilities Panel of the Council. These panels meet at 18-month intervals, alternately in Japan and the United States. Through the Marine Mining Panel, a study was recently conducted on the AntiTurbidity Overflow System (ATOS) for control of particulate plumes associated with marine sand and gravel dredge operations. This study, which was conducted in Japan, was partially funded by MMS. In addition, the MMS furnished technical assistance on the design and review of operating tests to determine the efficiency of the operation. Equipment design was to reduce plume pollution from sediment. These tests are still underway. The system has a potential for application to sand and gravel and other marine mineral mining systems on the OCS and EEZ as well as in State tidelands.

In summary, MMS plays an active role in supporting this Administration's commitment to shared technological and scientific knowledge and research.

This concludes my prepared remarks; however, I would be pleased to answer any questions which Members may have.

STATEMENT OF

ROBERT E. BUCKMAN, DEPUTY CHIEF, RESEARCH
FOREST SERVICE, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

At An Oversight Hearing Before The
Subcommittee on Public Lands,

Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs
United States House of Representatives

Concerning Assistance Provided by the Forest Service to other Nations on Environmental and Natural and Cultural Resource Issues

October 8, 1985

MR. CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE:

We are pleased to join with the Subcommittee in its oversight hearing

concerning Federal agency programs of assistance to other nations on environmental and natural and cultural resource issues. The subject is a significant one to the Forest Service. Commencing with the visit of Gifford Pinchot to the Philippines in 1902 to advise on forestry programs, the USDA Forest Service has been an active participant in international forestry affairs from its very beginning. Since then, USDA foresters have participated in the activities of several international organizations, provided technical assistance to numerous developing countries, shared in cooperative research and technology exchanges with a host of countries, and provided practical training for foresters from nearly all countries of the world.

We would like to provide the Subcommittee with an overview of our numerous activities. All aspects of Forest Service programs are involved in international

activities. The coordinating responsibility rests with our International

Forestry Staff which reports to the Deputy Chief for Research.

LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY

The principal authority governing Forest Service international cooperation is the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Research Act of 1978, P.L. 95-307. This act authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to "implement a comprehensive program of forest and rangeland renewable resources research and dissemination of the findings of such research." It further permits the Secretary to "cooperate with Federal, State, and other governmental agencies, with public or private agencies, institutions, universities, and organizations, and with businesses and individuals in the United States and in other countries. For Forest Service international work, this act is a complement to the Foreign Assistance Act and the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act, P.L. 480.

In implementing our international program, a problem is that P.L. 95-307 deals only with research and the dissemination of research findings; it does not address technical assistance other than research. Authority, therefore, is clear in using appropriated money from the Forest Service Research budget to support cooperative research and science and technology exchanges, but there is no similar act which specifically addresses the use for international technical assistance of other Forest Service appropriations. The National Forest Management Act of 1976 and the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 provide ample authority to develop programs beneficial to the management of our National Forests and our cooperative work with the States and private entities. Such programs can include cooperative work with other countries, although the acts do not specifically mention international cooperation. In recent years, Congress has recognized this by providing authority annually in the appropriations act to use National Forest and State and Private Forestry resources for international work, but only if work is done in cooperation with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) or USDA's Office of International

Cooperation and Development (OICD). It would benefit our collaboration abroad if language covering the Forest Service's international work was contained in public law.

OBJECTIVES AND RATIONALE FOR CURRENT PROGRAM

It is Forest Service policy to collaborate with USAID, OICD and other Federal agencies on major international forestry and natural resource activities of mutual concern to the United States and cooperating countries. There are two basic reasons for this policy: 1) benefit to the United States, and 2) technical assistance to developing countries. We view international cooperation as an effective means of bringing to the United States new and important technologies which have been developed in other countries. Often such technologies are directly applicable to situations in the United States. In other cases the benefit is indirect, leading to new approaches toward problem solving or to the personal development of participating staff. Thus, we also view international cooperation as an important means of human resource development in the Forest Service.

Being one of the largest and most advanced forestry organizations in the world, the Forest Service also bears a distinct social and moral obligation to share its experience and knowhow with less developed countries. This generally takes the form of technical assistance and is usually provided in cooperation with the USAID, OICD, or other national or international organizations.

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