70 



with many inaccuracies, much out-of- 

 date information, loaded statements 

 and misstatements that the timber in- 

 dustry. Alaskan congressmen. Alaskan 

 newspaper editors. Alaskan legislators, 

 forest service officials, resource con- 

 sultants and forest products associa- 

 tions have denounced. These rebuttals 

 come days or weeks later, after the 

 damage the publication has done. 



Lew Williams, Jr. has been around 

 newspapers and Southeast Alaska for 

 over 50 years. As publisher of the Ket- 

 chikan Daily News, he feels helpless in 

 his battle of making the feelings of 

 Southeast Alaska known and of getting 

 the straight facts into print. He has 

 been tracking the major newspaper 

 editorials and notes that once the 

 Wilderness Society issues a press 

 release, a few days later major 

 newspapers begin cranking out 

 Tongass reform editorials. 



"The legislation and the editorials 

 are unfair to Alaskans because they 

 make us look like greedy rip-off ar- 

 tists." Williams wrote in an editorial. 

 "They're unfair to all Americans 

 because they destroy a farsighted, 

 responsible plan for use of natural 

 resources to everyone's benefit, 

 especially that of future generations." 



Compromise on the Tongass 



Time after time, the Alaskan timber 

 companies and organizations claim 



their biggest desire is to have enough 

 timber available to keep the doors of 

 their sawmills and pulp mills open 

 They want the promised maximum lev 

 els of timber harvest left intact, especi 

 ally to lake advantage of good marke 

 conditions like those in 1988 and expect 

 ed in 1989. The amount of wilderness or 

 deferred lands is irrelevant to these 

 companies, except when that wild- 

 erness erodes the timber base and 

 threatens their jobs and operations. 



Alaska Rep. Don Young said. "There 

 is little doubt that legislation will be in- 

 troduced (in the 101st Congress) which 

 will severely curtail the timber in- 

 dustry in the Tongass National Forest. 

 I will oppose any one-sided legislation 

 that does not address the concerns of 

 the limber industry and will continue 

 to seek compromise on this important 

 issue." 



In 1988, during committee mark-up 

 of the Tongass bill. Young tried to 

 substitute a compromise bill. It was a 

 serious bill and was defeated. It had 

 provisions for monitoring road expen- 

 ditures. It would make clear that the 

 Forest Service set harvest levels bas- 

 ed upon market demand, rather than 

 the "450" level. Young's substitute re- 

 quired the Forest Service to go before 

 the Appropriations Committees of Con- 

 gress for capital expenditures. Young 

 fought hard and his bill failed. 

 Another idea offered by the industry 



Belou : I7e» ot Sitka Sound. RIghl: Rainfall Is measured In feel u llhin the Tongass (S to II feet 

 per year), creating a rain forest of Incredible sights. 



18 OUR LAND 



