15 



having read that article I can commend it for at least a different 

 view of the background of the Tongass issue. 



Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Senator Bumpers. Thank you. Senator Murkowski? 



Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am going to 

 defer to Senator Stevens, who has a conflict, and I would like to 

 proceed with my opening statement after Senator Stevens. 



Senator Bumpers. Without objection, we will proceed in that 

 order. We are honored to have the senior Senator from Alaska this 

 morning to be our lead-off witness. Welcome to the committee, and 

 please proceed. 



STATEMENT OF HON. TED STEVENS, U.S. SENATOR FROM 



ALASKA 



Senator Stevens. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, Senator 

 McClure and Senator Murkowski. I sit on this side of the witness 

 table in this room and many memories come back from the days 

 that I spent on this committee. Some of them are very fond memo- 

 ries, others not so fond. 



I remember so well the days that Senator McClure described— 10 

 years ago now, Mr. Chairman — that we started work once again on 

 the Alaska Lands Bill after it had been stopped in literally the last 

 minute of the preceding Congress in 1978. 



It will do no good, really, to hash over all of the old arguments 

 that came up at that time. But gentlemen, I think that the real 

 problem that I have with the whole series of issues we face now is 

 that none of us are clairvoyant, and none of us can see ahead into 

 the future, particularly into the economic future. 



At the time we agreed to the Alaska lands provision which af- 

 fected the Tongass, it was a very reluctant agreement. As a matter 

 of fact, I would point out to you gentlemen that each member of 

 the Alaska delegation at that time voted against the Alaska Lands 

 Act, primarily because of the Tongass provisions. They were a com- 

 promise that were offered to us in order to break the logjam to try 

 and get this bill completed. 



Congress does not recall now, but we had obtained statehood in 

 1959. We had gone through a series of land freezes that prevented 

 us from selecting our statehood lands. We had passed the Alaska 

 Native Land Claims Act, and we found that even the lands that 

 were intended to be conveyed to the Alaska natives were held up 

 by a serious controversy. This was over the designation of federal 

 lands that should be set aside and not be available for either the 

 state or the natives to select under either the Statehood Act or the 

 Land Claims Act. 



When we came down to the final analysis, it was my judgment 

 that we had no alternative but to proceed with that bill, notwith- 

 standing the fact that the provisions that concerned the Tongass 

 were unacceptable to a majority of Alaskans at the time. 



Now we find ourselves in the strange position of defending that 

 compromise, and those who offered the compromise are trying to 

 convince the Congress that somehow or other it was our idea, and I 

 have seen stories that indicate it was my idea. 



