177 



was intended to "prevent the long-term contract holders from harvesting only the better quality 

 timber while continuing to accrue large backlogs of uncut, lower quality stands." 



TTRA Sec 301(c)(8) . in which Congress instituted an adjustment intended to assure that the 

 long-term contract holders would pay stumpage prices comparable to those paid by independent 

 purchasers, and assuring similar profitability criteria The bill repeals this comparison and replaces 

 it with a different "comparability" clause keeping KPC competitive with mills in the Pacific 

 Northwest The bill also provides for a "mid-market" test of profitability which was never in the 

 KPC contract, and which independent operators do not enjoy 



L-P wants its timber prices lowered despite the fact that in 1995 it paid less than half what 

 independent purchasers paid for Tongass timber.^ From 1991-94, independent operators 

 on the Ketchikan area paid in cash $97 per thousand board feet of Tongass timber, while 

 KPC paid Just $7 in cash .'' 



The bill jeopardizes Tongass fish and wildlife, and their commercial, sport 

 and subsistence uses. 



The bill would (a) set a KPC logging mandate over 33 mmbf per year higher than KPC's 1 5-year 

 average annual cut, resulting in a huge cumulative amount of logging— 4.4 billion board feet, (b) 

 set a 23-year timber sale schedule that could not be changed without KPC approval, and (c) 

 prevent the Forest Service from ending the contract for environmental damage or inconsistency 

 with the Tongass Land Management Plan Taken together, or separately, these measures 

 seriously threaten fish and wildlife populations on the Tongass 



Every credible study of Tongass fish and wildlife over the last several years indicates that 

 more habitat must be protected, not less. These studies include 



• A Proposed Strategy for Maintaining Well-Distributed. Viable Populations of Wildlife 

 Associated with Old-growth Forests in Southeast Alaska - Report of an Interagency 

 Committee , May, 1993 The so-called "Viapops Report," commissioned for use in the TLMP 

 Revision and carried out by wildlife scientists from the Forest Service, the Alaska Department 

 of Fish and Game, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, identified the need for a network of 

 no-logging wildlife setasides, called Habitat Conservation Areas or HCAs, distributed across 

 the forest, in order to provide for viable, well-distributed wildlife populations as required by 

 the National Forest Management Act of 1976 



• Review of Wildlife Management and Conservation Biology on the Tongass National Forest: A 

 Synthesis with Recommendations . March, 1994 US Forest Service Pacific Northwest 

 Research Station, Corvallis, OR This "blue-ribbon" Peer Review of the Viapops Report as 



'us Forest Service. 1995 Tongass Timber Supply and Demand Repon at iv Counting cash payments and 



roadbuilding. KPC paid $121 per thousand board feet, independents forest-wide paid $279 



^SEACC calculation from Forest Service Alaska Region timber shop data. Counting total payments, including 



roadbuilding. KPC paid less than half the independent stumpage charge ($84 per thousand board feet vs. $166 for 



independents) 



