29 



this major corporate polluter from disobeying the laws and pollut- 

 ing. 



You have heard earlier today that — ^you claim that only 10 per- 

 cent of the Tongass will be logged. The truth is that that 10 per- 

 cent of the Tongass is the biological heart of this forest. It is the 

 trees and the valleys and along-the-beach fringe that the animals, 

 the fish, and the users who depend on those species rely upon. It 

 is like a doctor telling you that "I am only going to cut out your 

 heart, but that is only 10 percent of your body. You will be OK." 

 For the record, fully 75 percent of the forest's original prime high- 

 value old growth has never been protected by law. Only 11 percent 

 of the high volume commercial timber land is protected. 



In conclusion, your bill is a very serious threat to our public for- 

 est lands and to the way of life for Southeast Alaskans. Your busi- 

 ness is not a transfer. It is a travesty. It is outrageous, flat-out 

 dangerous, and we strongly urge you to stop this bill right here and 

 right now. 



This is the end of my statement, Mr. Chairman. 



[Statement of Mr. Lindekugel may be found at end of hearing.] 



The Chairman. Thank you, Robert. You did that very eloquently. 



Mr. Edwards? 



STATEMENT OF LARRY EDWARDS 



Mr. Edwards. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



My name is Larry Edwards. I am within a few months of being 

 a 20-year resident both of Sitka and Alaska. I came here originally 

 as an engineer with Alaska Pulp Corporation, and I am now a 

 downtown businessman. 



I would like to thank you for keeping the promise you made on 

 public radio back in February to hold a hearing in Sitka. 



Mr. Young, you are in the majority party in Congress, and you 

 are the Chairman of the House Resources Committee from whose 

 name you have removed the word natural. 



Alaska's senators are in similarly powerful positions. 



Nonetheless, the three of you have been unable to stampede the 

 Congress into allowing the destruction, by chain saw, of the 

 Tongass National Forest. Your many attempts over the past year 

 or two have failed. 



The transparent intent of this bill, H.R. 2413, is to move the 

 power play into a forum where you know a stampede will happen 

 sooner or later. You want to move it into the Alaska State Legisla- 

 ture and under the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, gov- 

 ernment bodies that have demonstrated their ability to throw re- 

 sources away for completely short-term gains. These government 

 bodies have demonstrated their inability to provide for long-term 

 multiple use and for future generations. You know that sooner or 

 later the State would privatize this forest. It would only take a mo- 

 mentary lapse of sanity by the legislature for that to happen. 



I would just like to mention here, going back to the testimony 

 that Keith Perkins gave earlier. He was talking about the hillside 

 back here, and I would just like to say that Mr. Perkins is mis- 

 informed, as are a lot of our local leaders, both in Sitka and the 

 State legislature. This hillside was not logged sixty years ago. It 

 was not logged in 1930. It was logged 160 years ago. We are talk- 



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