94 



Senator Bumpers. Thank you. I am going to ask the Senators to 

 submit any questions you may have of Congressman Young in writ- 

 ing so we can move along here. 



Our next witness, George Leonard, from the Forest Service. He is 

 accompanied by Michael Barton. 



George, if you will, I will ask you to summarize and perhaps we 

 may even submit most of our questions to you in writing. Can you 

 summarize your testimony? 



Mr. Leonard. Yes, I can. I will be glad to do that. 



Senator Bumpers. Your full statement will be submitted in the 

 record. 



STATEMENT OF GEORGE M. LEONARD, ASSOCIATE CHIEF, 

 FOREST SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



Mr. Leonard. As you indicated, the Tongass National Forest is a 

 land of superlative beauty, abundant resources and wilderness, and 

 it is certainly appropriate that substantial portions of that forest 

 be set aside to maintain those resources in perpetuity. And this has 

 been done. 



The Tongass National Forest is also a land supporting some of 

 the most productive forest land in the world, lands capable of sus- 

 taining harvested timber in perpetuity without adverse impact on 

 other resources. It is appropriate to divert portions of this forest to 

 sustained yield forest management, and this has been done. 



The management of the Tongass National Forest under the con- 

 cepts of multiple-use and sustained-yield is succeeding, but not 

 without controversy. Inherent in the concept of multiple use, is the 

 idea that the mix of uses will change over time and when you 

 debate those changes and uses, it creates controversy, and this is 

 what we are seeing in the hearing today. And particularly when 

 people have strong feelings about the forest and when there are 

 important economic interests involved, real controversy can be ex- 

 pected. It does not mean that the management is improper. It 

 simply means that people want to talk about alternatives. 



The ongoing debate on the Tongass is focused on several issues 

 that I would like to address briefly. First there have been allega- 

 tions that timber harvesting adversely affects the salmon fishery 

 and deer habitat. 



Mr. Chairman, research and long experience have demonstrated 

 that well planned, properly administered harvesting need not be 

 detrimental. Timber harvesting on the Tongass is being conducted 

 so as to avoid adverse impacts to these resources. The success is 

 demonstrated by the fact that both the salmon catch and deer har- 

 vesting have been at or near record levels in recent years. 



There has been concern about the economics of the timber pro- 

 gram on the Tongass. It was understood in 1979 that maintaining 

 potential harvest levels following the designation of wilderness 

 would require operations on some economically marginal areas. 

 This is why the Tongass timber sale fund was established. But the 

 economics of operating in the 1980s was more unfavorable than 

 had been anticipated: A worldwide recession, competition from ex- 

 panded harvests of native timber, and a very strong dollar severely 

 curtailed the market for wood from the Tongass. 



