business development. Her response to that: She was glad the log- 

 ging was diminishing, as the Tongass forest was being torn by 

 overharvesting. Her bottom line was that she understood that trees 

 are not a renewable resource and that trees do not grow back. I 

 was amazed, and I asked her where she got her information. She 

 stated that friends of hers told her that is why she needed to op- 

 pose logging of the Tongass, and she lives in New York. She com- 

 plied with this thought and had built up a firm belief that the tim- 

 ber industry is destroying the Tongass forest. 



She further stated that she advocates to her representatives in 

 Congress to stop the raping of the Tongass. 



I asked her to step outside this back door and take a look at the 

 surrounding scenery, and I asked her what she saw. She stated 

 that this is why we should get rid of the logging, to keep Sitka in 

 its pristine state. She was shocked when I explained that this very 

 mountain that she was looking at, Mount Verstovia, had been 

 logged and potentially void of trees during the mid-1930's, that 

 this was actually a second growth that was approximately 60 years 

 old. I also told her that the U.S. Forest Service is mandated by law 

 to have a sustainable plan to ensure that the forest maintains its 

 health forever. I also related that an estimated 87 percent of the 

 Tongass is off limits to any timber cutting whatsoever and that of 

 the remaining estimated 13 percent, it is managed as multiple use, 

 meaning other activities are taken into consideration with timber 

 harvesting. 



I further related that if the U.S. Forest Service is allowed to 

 practice their silviculture science, that the second growth will pro- 

 vide approximately 50 percent additional harvestable timber within 

 the same land base. I explained, in layman's terms, what 

 precommercial thinning and commercial thinning does for the vi- 

 brant health of the second growth. I also related the experience 

 that I had last fall when I flew out to the False Island Logging 

 Camp and was looking at 25-year-old stands of trees that were over 

 60 feet tall and they were so thick that you could not walk through 

 them. I further related that I saw a stand of trees that had been 

 precommercial thinned and were shooting up faster than the other 

 stands. She did not realize that, as a rain forest, we have an ex- 

 tremely fertile ground for the ability of the forest to reproduce it- 

 self. She was slightly embarrassed over her discoveries and was 

 also slightly disappointed as she felt she had been misinformed by 

 her friends from New York. 



I provide these two stories as the basis for the statement that I 

 believe decisions about this forest and the ability for input to those 

 who would manage this forest needs to be here in Alaska. Alaskans 

 need to decide their own future, not some misinformed person from 

 the East Coast or from outside interest who now dictate to us what 

 we can and cannot do here in our home. I also brought the issue 

 of the amendment on the taxation issue for tribal lands regarding 

 taxation because there are those who seem to think that they can 

 do a better job of managing the resource without ever having been 

 here and discovering firsthand what happens here on the Tongass. 

 Too often the Native Americans and Alaska Natives are not recog- 

 nized as sovereign governments as stated in congressional legisla- 

 tion and Federal Government policy. 



