93 \^ 



■5- 



Washington rejecting the planning process will signal to 

 those who prefer political decisions that Washington is the 

 place to do business, and the NFMA will be gutted for 

 the forest system as a whole. Those who have been 

 through the RARE I, RARE II, and Wilderness Release 

 Language battles before can look forward to one more 

 series of the same old battles, fought with the same old 

 emotional claptrap we have all heard so many times 

 before. Meanwhile, people who live in or near forests 

 throughout the country will once again be held hostage to 

 the political process — afraid to invest, to make business 

 decisions, to make any long term plans— that is the case 

 in Southeast Alaska today, and I don't wish it on anyone 

 else. 



In sum, I hope the Subcommittee will visit the 

 Tongass and see for yourselves the progress Alaskans are 

 making in making a living from our largest forest. Their 

 jobs are not easy ones, but they work honestly and 

 willingly. These people are truly the salt of the earth, and 

 I am proud to be their congressman. I urge the 

 Subcommittee to allow them to continue their way of life. 



