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Plan (TLMP). A Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on the TLMP will 

 be Issued for public comment this spring. The DEIS will contain data 

 gathered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service over the past 

 10 years. The Chamber believes that consideration of this Information is 

 necessary before any Informed public policy decisions regarding this 

 important national forest can be made. 



The Tongass National Forest in Alaska 1s a unique forest of Islands 

 supporting an array of fish and wildlife species, Including the largest 

 concentrations of bald eagle and brown bear populations on the continent. 

 However, the Tongass also supports an array of activities and has many uses, 

 including timber harvesting, commercial and sport fishing and hunting, 

 recreation, tourism, and native subsistence. All of these functions can — 

 and are — existing in harmony. 



A balance must be struck among community stability, logging, 

 wilderness designation, and the effects of activities on wildlife and 

 fisheries. The TLMP revision process provides a fair and balanced approach 

 to managing the Tongass National Forest and 1s best able to reflect changes 

 that have taken place 1n southeast Alaska — 1n public values, in market 

 conditions, and in knowledge about forest management activities and resource 

 interrelations. 



The Tongass National Forest 1s currently managed according to 

 guidelines defined in the 1979 TLMP. That plan, the first for this forest, 

 was the product of extensive public Involvement, an NFMA requirement. Many 

 of the Issues at the heart of today's debate were deliberated during the 



