25 



a loss of another approximately 45. So they are expecting to be 

 down about 90 from what they were hoping for two years ago. 



The Chairman. Is that in the elementary classes or is that in the 

 high school classes? 



Mr. Hallgren. That is through the — high school down through 

 elementary. 



The Chairman. The reason I ask that, this is a barometer of the 

 strength of your community, is when you start losing your kids, 

 you become an older community. You become infested with people 

 my age, and that is not necessarily a healthy situation. I just bring 

 that — that is economics. If you study the economic picture, it does 

 affect it. 



Mr. Hallgren. The school has dropped every year, and it is esti- 

 mated to drop again next year. 



The Chairman. Ladies, do you have anything else you want to 

 add? 



Ms. McGraw. No. As far as employment — we talked earlier — the 

 job we do have in Wrangell, we are employing, temporarily, six em- 

 ployees, and three of those used to work for us as loggers, and this 

 is the only work they have been able to find the last two years, and 

 they are working for us for like two months, and it is Davis-Bacon, 

 so they will probably be able to make as much in two or three 

 months and then they will be off again. At the end of this month, 

 they will be done working and they will be back on — not working 

 again. 



The Chairman. I have had the privilege of visiting Wrangell a 

 couple times recently, and it is not a happy situation down there. 

 These people are very desperate, and somehow along the line — I 

 guess one of the things — I go back to Keith's testimony about the 

 Tongass and the image it has back east, and the problem that Sen- 

 ator Murkowski and Senator Stevens and myself have is: The mes- 

 sage that is conveyed and the dishonesty that is portrayed upon 

 the constituency is awesome. I think you — we run into the constant 

 idea that every hill in Southeast has been cut. I try to explain to 

 them there are nine million acres set aside. When we addressed 

 the last Tongass Reform Act, we added a million acres of wilder- 

 ness prior to the 1980 Act — I mean, after the 1980 Act. People that 

 testified later on even said at that time there would be no mills 

 closed, there would be no loss of jobs. That is not what has hap- 

 pened, and yet people that ride these ferry boats and these ships 

 out here are being told — and I think one of the good things, as we 

 get some information, is they are shocked at how many trees are 

 in Southeast, because most of them have the idea they are going 

 to see nothing but destroyed area. 



I go back to the other states, just for your information. The log- 

 ging is occurring, like I say, in New York and Arkansas and Geor- 

 gia, Florida, Texas. 



Now this all rings a bell with you. They are all federally man- 

 aged forests — I mean, privately managed forests, and, by the way, 

 they are managed for fish and wildlife. I happen to be an individ- 

 ual turkey hunter, and where they practice proper forestry, they 

 have the finest turkey hunting. You do not find that in the national 

 forest. This is something that I just make for the record, that it is 



