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Keisey M. Alexander 

 P.O. Box 534 

 Custer , SO b//30 

 4 September 1993 



Senator Larry Pressler 

 Rushmore Mall office 

 Rapid city, SO 



Re: restimony, small Business Committee Hearing 

 "hederal limber Policy and Its Impact on Small Business" 



Oear Senator Pressler: 



1 compliment you, senator Pressler, and your staff for a very 

 good hearing. l hope that you can enable what is said here 

 to be HLAKO by your colleagues. 



In youi opening remarks you called for the U.S. i-orest 

 Service to release their planning data. No one on the panels 

 spoke to this, except when you asked Mr. Silva, the Forest 

 Service Representative, specifically why the data wasn't 

 being released. I his is very important. While 1 have many 

 other comments, 1 will attempt to limit mine to the issue of 

 this data as it was not properly covered at the hearing. 



1 formally requested the planning data from Lne horest 

 Service in regards to their Land Management Planning effort 

 toward producing the Forest Plan in January of 1993. l have 

 been told the data will not be released until the Forest Plan 

 is released because it is 'predecisional . " I his is the 

 response Mr. Stan Silva gave to you at the hearing when you 

 questioned him. 1 find this response unacceptable. 



First, a little background. I may be telling you what you 

 already Know, but this may make my belief that the data 

 should be released more clear. As required by National 

 tnvironmental Policy Act and the 19/6 Forest Management Act 

 the Forest Service is required to make an analytical model 

 comparing the costs and benefits and resource outputs m the 

 various alternatives considered in producing a Forest Plan. 

 This is a well-intended law. While l agree it is impossible 

 to be tXAC I with all data, it is important to compare the 

 tradeoffs and we must use the best we have. 1 believe the 

 Forest Service would agree with that. It is the 

 responsibility of the Forest Service to know what is on their 

 land and what it is capable of producing. The analytical 

 process of analyzing the alternatives is anchored by basic 

 resource inventory data, including basic information such as 

 how inuch vegetation of what size, age, quality, species or 

 species grouping, etc. are on which acres, also information 

 such as productivity and steepness of slopes. Managers can 

 apply prescriptions of vai ious management activities to 

 certain types of acres in computer modeling, triggering costs 



