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STATEMENT OF DON FINNEY 



ALASKA LOGGERS ASSOCIATION 



BEFORE THE 



SENATE ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE 



FEBRUARY 26, 1990 



INTRODUCTION 



Mr. Chairman, my name is Don Finney. I have been a 

 professional forester in Alaska for 40 years. I am the general 

 manager of the Alaska Loggers Association (ALA). With me today are 

 Dr. Doug Martin, a fisheries expert, to answer questions about 

 riparian management, and Owen Graham, Chairman of the ALA's Map 

 Committee, to answer technical questions about maps. The ALA is 

 made up of 115 members and 180 associate members. Its direct 

 members employ over 4,000 persons in timber operations. It is an 

 honor to be here this morning to present testimony to you and other 

 members of the Committee regarding the proposed National Marine 

 Fisheries Service (NMFS) buffer strip proposal and various land 

 proposals as they would impact the Tongass bills before the 

 Committee . 



The discussions have now broken into two parts: the 

 "Tongass Reform" issues, which were used to launch the debate in 

 1986; and the land issue (including the concern about buffer strips 

 which first emerged as an issue in 1989). Today's hearing, as I 

 understand it, is to deal solely with the latter of these two 

 issues . 



UTILIZE THE TLMP PROCESS; 



The problems with the completion of the legislation at 

 this point have to do with the buffer strip and land allocation 



