CALIFORNIA SPOTTED OWL FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE

                                              Release No. 0174.97

                                     Jim Petterson (202) 720-4623
                                           jim.petterson@usda.gov
                                     Matt Mathes (415) 705-2868

GLICKMAN APPOINTS MEMBERS TO THE CALIFORNIA SPOTTED OWL FEDERAL ADVISORY    
COMMITTEE

     WASHINGTON, May 23, 1997--Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman today
named 9 members and a committee chair to the California Spotted Owl Federal
Advisory Committee to provide a scientific analysis of the California
spotted owl management proposals.  The committee will review proposals
contained in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service proposed
Revised Draft Environmental Impact Statement (RDEIS) for managing the owls'
habitat and provide recommendations for owl habitat management on 10
national forests in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.  

     This newly created committee of natural resources specialists was
chartered under the authority of the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972. 

     The committee will work through the spring and summer to evaluate how
the proposed RDEIS, developed by the Forest Service, integrates the
information from the Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project chartered by Congress,
and the California Spotted Owl Technical Report developed in 1992 by Forest
Service scientists and others.

     "We want to be absolutely certain that we take care of the Sierra
Nevada ecosystem using the best science available," said Glickman.  "With good
science and sound management, people can count on healthy, productive
forests for generations to come."  

     The Sierra Nevada national forests cover eight million acres that
include the headwaters of 24 major river basins critical to California's
water supply, thousands of miles of recreational trails, several million
acres of productive timber land, hundreds of species of wildlife, healthy
sport fisheries, and many other resources that are important to many
Americans.
     
     This committee will be chaired by Charles W. Philpot, the former
director of the Pacific Northwest Research Station of the USDA's Forest
Service with Norman Christensen, dean of the Duke University School of
Forestry serving as the vice chair. 
     
     "With the expertise of the chair, vice chair, and other members of the
team, I am confident that we will protect the Sierra Nevada ecosystem and
all the long-term benefits it provides to the many people of California and
the rest of the nation," said James R. Lyons, under secretary for natural
resources and environment.  

     The other members of the committee include:

Nolan Colegrove, Hoopa Valley Tribal Council, Hoopa, Calif.;

Lynn Decker, fisheries program leader, Pacific Southwest Region, Forest
Service, San Francisco, Calif; 

Timothy Duane, assistant professor for environmental planning and policy,
University of California, Berkeley.

Jerry Franklin, professor, College of Forest Resources, University of
Washington, Seattle, Wash.;

Ralph J. Gutierrez, professor of wildlife, Humboldt State University,
Arcata, Calif.; 

Norman Pillsbury, department head for academic and research programs,
California Polytechnical Institute, San Luis Obispo, Calif.; 

Al Stage, retired Forest Service research scientist, Moscow, Idaho; and  

Jan W. Van Wagtendonk, research scientist, U.S. Geological Survey,
Biological Resources Division, El Portal, Calif.; 

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