67 



Washington. That is why we go back to — if we set up a plan on the 

 State level with local input, at least there would be some knowl- 

 edge of what was accumulated. Right now, I doubt it will ever be 

 considered. In fact, I have asked the Forest Service to give me the 

 plans that come from here, and I would like to see one plan and 

 see what they say back east. 



Mr. Williams. I think the people here are way more capable of 

 making the proper decisions. We know where the best subsistence 

 areas are. We know where the best tourist areas are. We know 

 where the best timber areas are, and, sure, there has got to be 

 some compromise, but they cannot do it. 



The Chairman. The problem we have, there, is one problem. I 

 think the mayor of Thome Bay said, "No more compromise," be- 

 cause what has happened, we have compromised, and now we are 

 arguing over the 1,400,000. 



Mr. WlLLL\MS. We need to compromise amongst ourselves, but 

 not with them. 



The Chairman. But I am saying 1,400,000. Now, I would suggest 

 respectfully that if the State had management of the Tongass — and 

 that is what my bill says — we could reconsider some of those areas 

 that were outside of the 1,400,000 about how it would best be man- 

 aged, and maybe it would not be in the park, but there is no con- 

 sideration. 



By the way, we did not have a hearing in 1986, regardless of 

 what they say. They had a trip. They went fishing. They did not 

 have a hearing. They did not listen to any testimony. I know who 

 it was. It was George Miller, Incorporated, who now is the ranking 

 member and I am the Chairman and I do have the gavel, but that 

 is what happened. There was no hearing. They did not hear from 

 you, and they made a decision to take an additional million acres 

 from the original and put it into a nonrestricted classification. No 

 one can really use it. That is the unfairness, and that decision is 

 followed up by, in fact, the Forest Service. 



Now, we keep defending the Forest Service, but I talked to Gary 

 yesterday, and he was sued, like I say, twice this week because 

 they do not want logging in Poison Cove. I talked to the fishermen 

 over there and they said, "Frankly, it is not a very attractive area," 

 yet they are being sued. They are caught in between and betwixt, 

 too. Every time they put something up, they get sued. 



Ms. Willis. I have a couple things. Even if we compromise 

 amongst ourselves, we need something back to compromise with, 

 which reminds me — my boys are twins, and they fought their whole 

 lives. One time there was a pie for a bake sale, and one son ate 

 three-quarters of the pie and then offered to share the last piece 

 with the other boy, and he said, "But you have had it all," and he 

 said, "No, this is all we have left, so you get half. This is the way 

 it works." 



Well, this is about where we are at: There is one little piece left. 

 Do not give them half. 



And there is something — I am from Washington, D.C., by the 

 way, born and raised there, and I see lots of different sides of this, 

 and one thing I do not see mentioned anymore is years ago, per- 

 haps — I think of myself more as a conservationist than an environ- 

 mentalist. I have lived in the woods every day of my life. I do not 



