281 



In 1974 Goldbelt selected highly productive timberlands on 

 the west coast of Admiralty Island, adjacent to the land 

 selections of three other Native Corporations with whom Goldbelt 

 planned to cooperate in sharing the substantial costs for the 

 infrastructure necessary to harvest timber. This initial 

 selection resulted in several years of controversy and 

 litigation, including with the Sierra Club and other 

 conservationist groups who objected to timber activities on 

 Admiralty Island. 



Exhausted by this continuing controversy and with no funds 

 to pursue further litigation, we gave up our Admiralty Island 

 land selection in 1979. In exchange we received the surface 

 rights to timberlands around Hobart Bay, a remote area about 80 

 miles south of Juneau where the conservationists had expressed no 

 interest. 



Our re-selection at Hobart Bay reguired us to fund the cost 

 of developing the infrastructure necessary to support our timber 

 operations without any cooperative arrangements with any other 

 ANCSA corporation. Nonetheless, we believed there were certain 

 advantages: 



(1) Goldbelt would make peace with the 



conservationists and avoid years of costly 

 litigation by moving off Admiralty Island and 

 on to lands at remote Hobart Bay; and 



