48 



than we do. I would like to point out that this should not be consid- 

 ered a slam against those employees who work for that agency. 

 Most are hard-working, conscientious; they are friends, neighbors. 

 The problem, rather, lies with the agency, itself, in it is an agency 

 whose vision and mission has been quite vague for the better part 

 of 20 years. It is an agency that strives to please everyone and suc- 

 ceeds in pleasing no one. It is an agency that was directed back in 

 1960 to practice multiple use, sustained yield on public lands but 

 also was forced, through congressional mandates, to set aside mil- 

 lions of acres, much of it in Alaska, as wilderness; roadless areas 

 that reduce multiple use to a singular term. It makes sustained 

 yield a meaningless concept. 



Currently we have 10 percent of our national forest that could 

 be considered multiple use, and we are locked in a death grip with 

 various groups over our ability to harvest timber on that remaining 

 10 percent. We have just about got ourselves compromised out of 

 a job. We are continually compromising. Pretty soon we will not 

 have any timber left to harvest, if they have their way. 



But the Forest Service, with that in mind, is an agency led from 

 outside, within, by those whose personal agenda speaks to an elite 

 minority who feels that timber harvesting must be eliminated by 

 all costs and whatever means. It is an agency that listens more 

 closely to the misinformed and elected to cancel one long-term con- 

 tract, closing down the other one. It is an agency whose preferred 

 alternative to the current Tongass Land Management Plan reveals 

 a harvest limit that cannot sustain what industry we have left or 

 will not provide for future expansion. It is an agency that year by 

 year and bit by bit has instituted policies and regulations that have 

 eroded our ability to provide meaningful jobs for our people and 

 provide a stable future for our children. 



Here in Thome Bay it is zoned to approximately 650 people. Ac- 

 tually, that was the estimate done last year by a group that was 

 doing an economic study and since that time I believe we have lost 

 about a dozen families out of Thome Bay, and most of those left 

 because of that uncertainty that I spoke about earlier. 



This community is heavily dependent upon the timber industry. 

 Approximately 80 percent are directly employed by the industry. 

 Losing it in Thorne Bay would be the same as Detroit losing the 

 auto industry or Honolulu losing its tourist industry. We would not 

 survive if it is gone. We just will not. 



We do not want welfare. We do not want blood money. We want 

 jobs. We want the future that was promised to Southeast when the 

 pulp mill first opened in 1954. It has become clear to me that the 

 U.S. Government and the Forest Service cannot uphold that prom- 

 ise, and I, therefore, support H.R. 2413. 



I am not suggesting that the State of Alaska can do a better job 

 in managing this forest than the Forest Service has. I am suggest- 

 ing they cannot do any worse. And we want the chance that man- 

 agement by the State of Alaska would give us, and if we have a 

 problem, we would not have to bother Washington with it. We can 

 take it right to Juneau. 



That is all I have. Thank you very much. 



The Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. 



