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STATEMENT OF 



K.J. METCALF, VICE-PRESIDENT 



SOUTHEAST ALASKA CONSERVATION COUNCIL 



REGARDING WILDERNESS and BUFFER ZONE PROVISIONS OF H.R. 987 



BEFORE THE 



U.S. SENATE ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE 



FEBRUARY 26, 1990 



Mr. Chairman, members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My 

 name is KJ Metcalf. I live in Angoon, Alaska. I am speaking for the Southeast Alaska 

 Conservation Council (SEACC), a grassroots coalition of 13 organizations in 11 Southeast 

 Alaska communities. SEACC is made up of people who live and work in the Tongass National 

 Forest. 



I want to emphasize my background of more than 20 years in planning and public information 

 with the Forest Service on the Tongass. I was the planning team leader for the first phase of 

 the original Tongass Land Management Plan and remained on the planning team through 

 completion of the plan. From 1978 to 1982, I was manager of Admiralty Island National 

 Monument. During my Forest Service career I received a number of awards for my work, and 

 I feel I was a valued employee. 



In 1982 I opted for an early retirement from the Service because of my growing alarm at the 

 "timber at any cost" approach of managing the Tongass. I was convinced that reform was 

 essential if the Forest Service was ever to become a multiple-use agency — and I knew that 

 reform would be the result of external forces, it would never come from within the agency. 



SUMMARY OF SEACC POSITION : 



Since we have testified before this Committee in February and April of 1989, our previous 

 hearing statements still hold. Additionally, we have submitted numerous items for the hearing 

 record over the past year. 



SEACC firmly believes that comprehensive reform legislation MUST include legislated 

 permanent lands protection as Wilderness or some other type of special designation. Such 

 legislation must also include a strong buffer strip standard. Therefore, SEACC strongly 

 supports the lands and buffer zone protections embodied in H.R. 987. We believe that lands 

 and buffers need Congressional protection now, and that the Tongass Land Management Plan 

 (TLMP) Revision will no_l solve the major problems on the Tongass. 



L LANDS PROTECTION 



More specifically, in 1989 SEACC strongly supported 22 areas for Wilderness and one area, the 

 Yakutat Forelands, for special management as a critical fish and wildlife habitat area. 



In 1990 we now support 23 areas for Wilderness plus the special management designation for 

 the Yakutat Forelands. The new area on the list is the Salmon Bay Lake watershed. Since 

 hearings last year, Salmon Bay Lake, a premier sockeye and coho salmon producing area, was 

 selected for logging and roads. Commercial fishing groups are now embroiled in defending 

 this area. Also important waterfowl, deer, and black bear habitat, the watershed is described 



