89 



Statement of Representative Don Young 



February 28, 1989 



Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources 



Subcommittee on Public Lands, National Parks & Forests 



Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: 



As Alaska's only Representative in the House, I want 

 to thank you for this opportunity to testify before your 

 subcommittee about the future of the Tongass National 

 Forest and the people who live there. Knowing that 

 Members are concerned about what the people who live 

 in an area affected by decisions made in Washington think 

 about issues, I come to you today as the only statewide 

 elected official in the 1988 election cycle - a year in 

 which the Tongass National Forest management was the 

 number one issue of concern to residents of Southeast 

 Alaska. By way of background, Congressman Mrazek's 

 bill - quite similar to one of the bills before you today -- 

 was passed overwhelmingly last year by the House of 

 Representatives against my strongest objections, after 

 months of nonstop negotiations failed to produce a 

 compromise acceptable to the various people to whom the 

 word "Tongass" means much more than an article in 

 Sports Illustrated . I ran on my strong opposition to Mr. 

 Mrazek's legislation, which I felt would mean the ruin of 

 the only year-round economy in Southeast Alaska, and the 

 removal of the two largest manufacturing plants in the 

 State of Alaska. On November 8, the people reelected 

 me in my strongest showing in Southeast Alaska in some 



