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the management that we are talking about: Who is managing, are 

 they managing. 



I thank you ladies for being here, thank you for your testimony. 



We are going to go to panel four, and prior to that, I am going 

 to go to the little rest room, so panel four can take their seats, and 

 when I come back, we will begin. 



[Pause.] 



The Chairman. We have Mr. Larry Edwards, Sitka, Alaska; Mr. 

 Larry Trani; Mr. Ben Mitchell; and Mr. Robert E. Lindekugel. I 

 have Mr. Mitchell first. 



STATEMENT OF BEN MITCHELL, TONGASS HUNTING AND 

 FISHING COALITION 



Mr. Mitchell. Good morning, Congressman Young and members 

 of the Committee. My name is Ben Mitchell. I live in Sitka, and 

 I appreciate the opportunity to speak. 



I am co-director of the Tongass Hunting and Fishing Coalition, 

 a newly formed, non-profit corporation dedicated to bringing the 

 voice of subsistence, sportsmen, commercial guides and wildlife 

 viewers to the Tongass debate. 



I have lived, worked, traveled, and fished extensively throughout 

 the entire Tongass National Forest for the last 31 years. I am a 

 professional civil engineer, logging engineer, and forester by virtue 

 of academic training and experience. 



Let me state right here and now that I am a firm believer in the 

 consumptive use by humans of all renewable natural resources on 

 a sustained yield basis. 



However, the Tongass forest timber cannot continue to be over- 

 harvested as it has been in the past. The timber industry, operat- 

 ing under the provisions of the long-term contracts awarded in the 

 1950's, has already removed the highest value and most accessible 

 timber. 



The Forest Service, now that it has been unshackled from one of 

 the two long-term contracts, is finally able to move forward toward 

 a balanced management. Protecting and maintaining habitat and 

 access is especially important to our membership. 



The populations of Sitka black-tailed deer are being and will be 

 in the future adversely affected by the large-scale conversion of 

 high-value old growth to second-growth forests. It has been my ob- 

 servation in the field that after the second growth canopy closes 

 over and shades out the browse that springs up after initial cut- 

 ting, the second growth areas become a biological desert for deer 

 brouse — until approximately the year 180. Perfunctory thinning for 

 wildlife forage is basically a ruse and too short-lived to be of much 

 value in my experience of observations. 



The State of Alaska has demonstrated that it lacks the commit- 

 ment, funding, personnel, and legislation to protect habitat and ac- 

 cess. 



This legislation is being promoted under the guise of obtaining 

 local control when, in reality, nothing could be further from the 

 truth. The State of Alaska is with a budget crunch that extends 

 over the horizon and a demonstrated lack of commitment for ethi- 

 cal management on its present State owned and private 

 timberlands. A particular glaring example of this is the destructive 



