Proclamation 5882

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

Our observance of National Forest Products Week reminds us that, in one way or another, forest resources affect all of us, city and country dwellers alike. Forests supply many material needs, from lumber for homes to paper products to the baseball bats of our national pastime. And, whether in national and city parks or in local woods, forests enhance our physical and spiritual well-being with their scenic vistas and recreational opportunities.

Forestry and agriculture have been vital to our economic life from the start. Today, we are seeking to expand our market for forest products. We have the technological and resource capabilities to boost our competitiveness in exporting forest products. Our active competition in the international marketplace will foster a more robust economy and healthier and more productive forests. We continue to develop new resource management practices and to foster innovations in forest products. We can provide these and other products for ourselves and the people of the world; we will succeed as long as we continue to understand the great importance of our forests and the need to nurture them.

To promote greater awareness and appreciation of the many benefits of forests for our Nation, the Congress, by Public Law 86-753 (36 U.S.C. 163), has designated the week beginning on the third Sunday in October of each year as "National Forest Products Week" and authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this week.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the week of October 16 through October 22, 1988, as National Forest Products Week, and I call upon all Americans to observe this week with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fourteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirteenth.

RONALD REAGAN

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:01 a.m., October 17, 1988]