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THE WILDLIFE SOCIETY 



ALASKA CHAPTER 304 Lake Stre.t 



FE3 6 1990 



Sitka, Alaska 99835 



January 29, 1990 



The Honorable Bennett Johnston 



US Senate 



Washington, D.C. 20510 



Dear Senator Johnston, 



The Alaska Chapter of the Wildlife Society represents 

 professional wildlife biologists throughout the State of Alaska. 

 We appreciate your ongoing efforts to win passage of Tongass 

 Timber Reform legislation in the Senate, and we ask your 

 continued support of S. 346 this session. We particularly 

 support permanent protection for important fish and wildlife 

 areas identified in S. 346, as well as provisions for minimum 

 100-foot buffer strips along Class 1 and 2 salmon streams. 



Historically, the ti 

 logging in the highe 

 lower elevations alo 

 represent a relative 

 Tongass in terms of 

 continued abundance 

 other wildlife speci 

 plans, Forest Servic 

 will decline by 60 p 



mber industry in Alaska has concentrated 



st-volume old growth stands, typically at 



ng broad valley bottoms. These areas 



ly small percentage (about 4 %) of the 



land area, but they are vital to the 



of deer, brown bears, eagles, marten and 



es in the region. Under current logging 



e EIS's predict populations of these species 



ercent' over large areas of the Tongass. 



Ten years ago, when 

 legislators looked o 

 at where those acres 

 represented. Most o 

 scrub forest having 

 wildlife. The Tonga 

 inequity, at least i 

 forested watersheds 

 pressure from the ti 

 for any high-quality 

 We hope you will res 

 largely defeat the i 



the original ANILCA comprom 

 nly at how many acres were 



were located or what kind 

 f the area now protected is 

 little value to old-growth 

 ss Timber Reform Act can ba 

 n small measure, by protect 

 from logging. There will u 

 mber industry to substitute 



old-growth acreage in the 

 ist this pressure, recogniz 

 ntent of the lands protecti 



ise was crafted, 

 in Wilderness, not 

 of habitat they 



in rock, ice, and 

 dependent 

 lance this 

 ing intact 

 ndoubtedly be 



low quality acres 

 current proposal, 

 ing that it would 

 on provisions. 



Alaska is one of the very few places left where wildlife and fish 

 provide an important source of protein to the inhabitants. The 

 people of southeast Alaska depend on the Tongass National Forest 

 to provide the old growth wildlife habitat that is essential to 

 maintain the fish and wildlife populations needed for 

 subsistence. The commercial fishing industry, guided hunting 

 industry, and the tourism industry, also depend on the abundance 

 of lish and wildlife that have been produced by the forest Lor 



