TONGASS NATIONAL FOREST 



MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1990 



U.S. Senate, 

 Subcommittee on Public Lands, 



National Parks and Forests, 

 Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, 



Washington, DC. 



The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2 p.m. in room SD- 

 366, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. J. Bennett Johnston, 

 chairman, presiding. 



OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. J. BENNETT JOHNSTON, U.S. 

 SENATOR FROM LOUISIANA 



The Chairman. The hearing will come to order. 



In 1980 the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, or 

 ANILCA, was enacted. As Congress designated 5.6 million acres of 

 the Tongass National Forest as wilderness, it also determined that 

 the Tongass National Forest would be managed under a number of 

 special provisions which set it apart from other national forests. 



In addition to the two long-term contracts already in place at the 

 time of ANILCA's passage, Congress guaranteed a decadal harvest 

 level of 4.5 billion board-feet on the Tongass, mandated a direct ap- 

 propriation of at least $40 million, and allowed the Tongass an ex- 

 emption from the timber suitability analysis required by the Na- 

 tional Forest Management Act. 



Over the last few years many in and out of Congress have taken 

 a hard look at those decisions we made almost ten years ago and 

 ask a basic question: Have the assurances we made in 1980 unduly 

 biased the management of the Tongass in favor of timber produc- 

 tion at the expense of other values? Or are these provisions appro- 

 priate compensation for the large wilderness set-asides of 1980? 



In this Congress alone, three measures have been introduced, 

 each of which takes a different approach to responding to that 

 question. 



Today we intend to focus on two provisions of one of those meas- 

 ures, H.R. 987, the House-passed Tongass reform legislation, which 

 has not been directly addressed at previous subcommittee hearings. 

 Specifically, we will take testimony on those portions of H.R. 987 

 relating to fisheries protection and buffer zones and those provi- 

 sions relating to the designation of additional wilderness areas in 

 the Tongass National Forest. 



It is my sincere hope that this will be the last of our hearings 

 regarding the Tongass National Forest and that we can move 

 quickly to resolve this issue. Over the last couple of years, I have 

 spoken with a wide variety of Southeast Alaskans concerning the 



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