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The remaining objections to timber harvesting in the 

 Tongass focus on conflicts between users of the forest. A 

 new process designed to resolve those conflicts in Alaska is 

 underway. We certainly can not resolve them by closing even 

 more of the forest to multiple use. 



In summary, Mr. Chairman, it is possible to improve the 

 timber program in the Tongass, but improvement techniques 

 will not require wholesale changes in existing law. No case 

 has been made for closing more of the forest to timber 

 harvesting. No case has been made for canceling the 

 contracts under which Southeast Alaska's two pulp mills 

 operate. 



Those would be desperate steps, and would send a 

 Shockwave through the economy of a vital area of Alaska -- 

 shocks which would put hundreds, if not thousands, of people 

 out of work. 



