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Why the urgency? The Tongass is not being clearcut . The 

 Forest Service plans to log only 1.7 million acres out of a 17 million 

 acre forest over 100 year cycles in perpetuity. At present, this land 

 base is managed to produce 45 billion board feet of timber during the 

 next 100 years. In the second 100 year cycle, because of our 

 extraordinary regeneration rates in Southeast Alaska, the same area 

 will produce 90 billion board feet of timber. Once cut, timber 

 management areas in the Tongass come back at twice the timber 

 volumes. 



But responsible forest management involves more than just 

 sound sustained yield timber harvesting practices. We have 5.5 million 

 acres of Congressionally designated wilderness in the Tongass National 

 Forest which preserves one-third of the most magnificent old growth 

 forest for the benefit of future generations. In fact, the one million 

 acre Admiralty Island National Monument Wilderness is a model for 

 the preservation of biodiversity which we should encourage other 

 nations to follow. An additional one-third of the old growth forest is 

 dedicated exclusively to non-timber uses such as wildland recreation. 

 In all, due to the extremely valuable fish and wildlife, recreation and 

 wilderness resources deserving special protection, 90% of the 17 

 million acre Tongass forest will never be logged. I challenge anyone to 

 refute this fact. 



Compare the harvest in the Tongass to timber harvest activity in 

 other states. While we sustain one-fourth of Southeast Alaska's 

 economy on a harvest of 450 million board per year from a 1 7 million 

 acre forest, 8 to 10 billion, that's right billion, board feet are cut per 

 year on the 23 million acres of national forest in Washington and 

 Oregon. Commercial forest land in New York totals 17.4 million acres, 

 or slightly larger than the Tongass. Yet over two and one-half billion 

 board feet of timber is cut each year in New York, over five times the 

 cut on the Tongass. Three times as much firewood alone, one and 

 one-half billion board feet, is cut each year in New York as is cut for all 

 purposes in the Tongass. And if cutting pulp wood is a problem, they 

 cut 425 million board feet of pulp wood per year in New York while we 

 try to sustain an integrated industry and the economy of a region on 

 Just that much in Southeast Alaska. 



Shouldn't the Congress wait four months to see the most 

 advanced and expensive resource analysis ever performed on a 

 national forest and have the best judgments of the responsible 

 resource professionals before statutorily mandating land use strategies 

 for the Tongass National Forest? Southeast Alaskans think so. The 

 Southeast Conference, representing the cities and business in 

 Southeast Alaska, thinks so. The Alaska Congressional delegation 

 thinks so. And the Administration thinks so. It is only the special 

 interest groups seeking to maximize wilderness in all the National 



