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because these two wilderness areas, if allowed to stand, will 

 cause our substantial investment at Hobart Bay to become 

 virtually worthless when logging on our Hobart Bay lands ends in 

 a couple of years. 



Our investment at Hobart Bay is about $17 million. After we 

 finally obtained title to Hobart Bay in 1979, we invested 

 borrowed money to create the infrastructure necessary to support 

 logging activity, including sort yards, over 100 miles of roads 

 and bridges, a deep water loading dock, and the town of Hobart 

 Bay. Although not incorporated, the town of Hobart Bay with its 

 over 200 residents is one of the ten largest towns in Southeast 

 Alaska. Hobart Bay is a settlement in every sense of the word 

 with housing, underground utilities, sewage treatment plant, 

 local and long distance telephone service, a post office with its 

 own zip code, a school (grades K through 12) , a cable television 

 system, and three flights per day scheduled float plane service. 



After we had invested borrowed funds in the infrastructure 

 at Hobart Bay, timber prices dropped precipitously. For the 

 first five years we could barely meet our debt service and almost 

 went bankrupt. Goldbelt has worked through these difficulties, 

 and is now a debt-free and solvent corporation. However, the 

 establishment of these additional wilderness areas once again 

 poses a threat to our economic future. 



