373 



STATEMENT 



on 



THE TONGASS TIMBER REFORM ACT. H.R. 987 



for submission to the 



SUBCOMMITTEE ON PUBLIC LANDS. NATIONAL PARKS AND FORESTS 



Of the 

 SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES 



by 



Susan C. Moya* 



February 7, 1990 



The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world's largest federation of 

 business firms, state and local chambers of commerce, and trade and 

 professional associations, appreciates this opportunity to express its views 

 on the Tongass Timber Reform Act, H.R. 987, approved by the House of 

 Representatives last year. 



The Chamber opposes H.R. 987 and other so-called Tongass timber reform 

 measures because 1t believes that It 1s Inappropriate and impossible for 

 Congress to micromanage national forests, as provided for in H.R. 987. 

 Rather, the Chamber urges Congress to allow the forest management planning 

 process, prescribed by Congress 1n the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) 

 of 1976, to balance the many competing uses of national forests. Congress 

 should not intervene beyond Its oversight responsibilities. 



The detailed micromanagement prescriptions in H.R. 987, such as 

 wilderness designation and requirements that a buffer zone be left on either 

 side of fish-spawning streams and their tributaries, are issues more 

 appropriately treated as part of the revised Tongass Land Management 



* Susan C. Moya 1s Manager, Energy and Natural Resources Policy. 



