Congressional Research Service Reports - 68 Matching Results

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The Northern Goshawk: Future Endangered Species?

Description: The northern goshawk was listed in January 1992 as a candidate species (Category 2) for possible future listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) throughout its range in the United States. Category 2 species are those for which there are not adequate data to justify a listing proposal under ESA at that time.
Date: June 29, 1994
Creator: Corn, M. Lynne
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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African Elephant Issues: CITES and CAMPFIRE

Description: The conservation of African elephants has been controversial recently on two fronts: the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES, to which the United States is a party), and a Zimbabwean program for sustainable development called CAMPFIRE, which is partially funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Two controversies have sprung up recently about the African elephant. One is the changing status of this species under the Convention on International T… more
Date: August 5, 1997
Creator: Corn, M. Lynne & Fletcher, Susan R.
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Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Marine Dead Zones: Understanding the Problem

Description: Very low levels of dissolved oxygen (hypoxia) in bottom-water "dead zones" are natural phenomena, but can be intensified by certain human activities. The largest hypoxic area affecting the United States is in the northern Gulf of Mexico near the mouth of the Mississippi River, but there are others as well.
Date: November 23, 1998
Creator: Dandelski, John R. & Buck, Eugene H.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Biological Diversity Treaty: Fact Sheet

Description: As human activity continues to change and modify natural areas, widespread extinctions of plants, animals, and other types of species result. In 1992, negotiations conducted under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) were completed on a comprehensive global treaty to protect biological diversity (biodiversity). In June 1993, President Clinton signed the treaty and sent it to the Senate for advice and consent. It is not pending in the Senate. The treaty entered into fo… more
Date: May 16, 1995
Creator: Fletcher, Susan R.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Biosphere Reserves and the U.S. MAB Program

Description: Since 1972, the United States has participated in the Man and the Biosphere Program (MAB), coordinated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In addition to the American Land Sovereignty Protection Act this report also discusses the legislation that would affect U.S. participation in the World Heritage Convention, under which World Heritage sites are recognized, and which include some of the sites recognized as biosphere reserves
Date: June 4, 1999
Creator: Fletcher, Susan R.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Biosphere Reserves: Fact Sheet

Description: Since 1972, the United States has participated in the Man and the Biosphere Program (MAB), coordinated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This report presents a background on the criteria for Biosphere Reserves, designation process and the policy implications of designation/recognition.
Date: October 3, 1997
Creator: Fletcher, Susan R.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Trade and Environment: Treatment in Recent Agreements--GATT and NAFTA

Description: This report reviews some of the concerns surrounding the environment work program and other environmental issues. It briefly describes work underway in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and current thinking underlying development of U.S. positions on trade and the environment in the GATT.
Date: February 24, 1994
Creator: Fletcher, Susan R. & Tiemann, Mary
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Alternative Sources of Wood for Japan

Description: Japan is one of the world's largest wood importers, with two-thirds of its imports as logs (unprocessed timber). Southeast Asia has been the largest log supplier, but supplies (and exports to Japan) have been declining. The United States has become a more important supplier, but concerns about declining domestic timber supplies have led to proposals to prohibit or to tax log exports. Opponents suggest that Japan would simply turn to other sources to replace U.S. logs. One question in this debat… more
Date: August 25, 1994
Creator: Gorte, Ross W.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Below-Cost Timber Sales: An Overview

Description: The Forest Service sells some timber at prices that are less than the agency costs to administer the timber program. This report discusses these "below-cost" timber sales that have been debated by Congress for more than a decade, but no policy to address the issue has been adopted legislatively or administratively.
Date: December 20, 1994
Creator: Gorte, Ross W.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Chip Mill Industry in the South

Description: Chip mills turn trees into chips for paper, particle-boards, and exports. While the federal government does not collect data on a chip mill industry, chip production in the South has apparently been expanding. The timber supply appears sufficient to allow some increased harvests, but could be depleted by continued industrial expansion. The federal government does not directly regulate timber cutting but could become engaged if requirements of the Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts were tri… more
Date: June 10, 1998
Creator: Gorte, Ross W.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Federal Land and Resource Management: A Primer

Description: Four federal agencies administer most of the U.S. government's land. The National Park Service administers the Park System for recreation use and preservation. The Fish and Wildlife Service manages wildlife refuges primarily for protecting and improving fish and wildlife habitats. The Bureau of Land Management manages the public lands for sustained yields of multiple uses - grazing, recreation, timber, and fish and wildlife. The Forest Service similarly manages the national forests. Most forest… more
Date: December 22, 1998
Creator: Gorte, Ross W.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Federal Sales of Natural Resources: Pricing and Allocating Mechanisms

Description: This report describes the systems used by the federal government to price its resources and to determine who gets access to those resources. For some (e.g., timber and leasable minerals), markets are used to set prices, but administrative systems used for some resources may result in prices substantially lower than market values.
Date: December 11, 1998
Creator: Gorte, Ross W.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Forest Fires and Forest Health

Description: Interest in fuel management, to reduce fire control costs and damages, has been renewed with the numerous, destructive wildfires spread across the West during the summers of 1988 and 1994.
Date: June 7, 1996
Creator: Gorte, Ross W.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Forest Service Timber Sale Practices and Procedures: Analysis of Alternative Systems

Description: The Forest Service currently sells timber by (a) planning and preparing the sale, (b) offering the sale, usually at an oral auction, and (c) administering the timber harvest. Many of the concerns about the timber program have focused on harvest administration, because purchasers have incentives to minimize their costs and to remove only those logs whose value for products exceeds the price paid to the Forest Service. Some critics suggest that this, together with an alleged "timber bias" and oth… more
Date: October 30, 1995
Creator: Gorte, Ross W.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Natural Resource "Subsidy" Issues

Description: In 1993, the Clinton Administration proposed eliminating many natural resource "subsidies" and increasing fees for many Federal services. Among the proposals advanced were increases in existing grazing and recreation fees and new mining and commercial fishing fees. Other proposals would have affected timber sales and water deliveries from Federal projects. Many of these proposals have been advanced by fiscal conservatives in the 104th Congress to reduce the Federal budget deficit.
Date: April 27, 1995
Creator: Gorte, Ross W.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Roadless Areas: The Administration's Moratorium

Description: On February 12, 1999, the Forest service announced a moratorium on new road construction in many roadless areas within the national Forest System. This measure is temporary (up to 18 moths) while national Forest transportation policy revision is being debated. areas protected by the moratorium include roadless areas of at least 5,000 acres, of at least 1,000 acres if contiguous to other roadless areas. However, the moratorium exempts 9 national forests with recently revised management plans and… more
Date: April 8, 1999
Creator: Gorte, Ross W.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Salvage Timber Sales and Forest Health

Description: Interest in salvaging timber has increased markedly since extensive forest fires in 1994. The focus is to use the dead and dying timber before it goes to waste and to increase the supply of Federal timber available to the wood products industry. Supporters also note that salvage sales are one tool that can be used to improve forest health. Critics counter that some dead and dying trees are necessary for healthy ecosystems, and that salvage sales are costly to the U.S. Treasury and to the enviro… more
Date: June 7, 1996
Creator: Gorte, Ross W.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Softwood Lumber Imports: The 1996 U.S.-Canada Agreement

Description: Many U.S. lumber producers have complained that subsidies to Canadian lumber producers give them an unfair advantage in supplying the U.S. market. The dispute has evolved through various forums over the past 15 years. Recent negotiations led to an agreement on May 28 to reduce Canadian lumber exports with a tariff rate quota (i.e., a tariff on imports above the quota) probably by about 9% from record 1995 levels, leading to expectations of trade harmony (at least on this issue) for the next 5 y… more
Date: June 13, 1996
Creator: Gorte, Ross W.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Federal Land Ownership: Constitutional Authority; the History of Acquisition, Disposal, and Retention; and Current Acquisition and Disposal Authorities

Description: Federal land ownership and management are of perennial interest to Congress. This report describes the constitutional authority for federal land ownership. It provides the history of federal land acquisition and disposal, and describes the federal land management agency jurisdictions, based on congressional authorities to reserve or withdraw lands from disposal. The report then describes several efforts to force additional federal land disposal, including recent legislative activity. It conclud… more
Date: April 7, 1999
Creator: Gorte, Ross W. & Baldwin, Pamela
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Restricting Softwood Log Exports: Policy and Legal Implications

Description: The Pacific Northwest is a major exporter of unprocessed softwood logs to foreign countries, such as Japan, that are often sold at premium prices. Consequently, some local mills have had difficulty obtaining unprocessed logs, which has contributed to the loss of timber industry jobs in the Pacific Northwest. Thus, many believe that exporting logs is the economic and moral equivalent of exporting U.S. jobs.
Date: August 13, 1993
Creator: Gorte, Ross W. & Thomas, Kenneth R.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Mexican Spotted Owls: Federal Protection

Description: Mexican spotted owls (MSOs) have the largest geographic distribution of the three spotted owl subspecies, with most occurring on National Forest lands in Arizona and New Mexico. Habitat loss and modification due to logging and fire prompted the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to list MSOs as a threatened species in March 1993. As required in Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the U.S. Forest Service (FS) is consulting with the FWS on 125 timber sales proposed for the region. These c… more
Date: June 30, 1993
Creator: Heck, Jennifer A.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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