115 



This amendment would also have directed the Secretary to 

 prepare and offer for sale only that amount of timber needed 

 to meet the annual market demand of the timber industry. 

 Timber sales that had not sold in a given year would count 

 towards the timber supply in the next year. These measures 

 would prevent a number of the problems cited in the recent 

 analysis by the General Accounting Office, by both allowing 

 and requiring the Secretary to be more responsive to market 

 conditions. 



TITLE II: Contract Termination 



As noted above, the long-term timber sale contracts were one 

 of the principal elements of the federal government's 

 efforts to estc±)lish a timber industry in Alaska. 



The State strongly opposes cancelling the long-term 

 contracts. We believe that cancellation of the contracts 

 could significantly disrupt the economies of a number of 

 communities in southeast Alaska. 



If the Committee perceives there to be problems with the 

 long-term contracts it would be much more acceptable to the 

 State for the Congress to instruct the Forest Service to 

 renegotiate elements of the contracts with the two pulp 

 companies. 



TITLE III: Timber Harvest Moratorium 



S.346 establishes a moratorium on commercial timber 

 harvesting and associated activities pending completion of 

 revision of the forest plan on twenty-three areas totalling 

 1.7 million acres. 



The State recognizes the high value of several of these 

 areas as fish and wildlife habitat, and their importance to 

 the fishing and tourism industries, subsistence users, and a 

 number of communities in southeast Alaska. 



The principal question regarding this title is whether 

 additional temporary protection can be provided to these 

 areas without having an unacceptable impact on the ongoing 

 operations of the timber industry. The state would be 

 opposed to any m.oratorium which disrupted field operations 

 during the planning period to the extent that it caused, by 

 itself, significant reductions in employment. To the extent 

 that timber purchasers have relied upon commitments by the 

 Forest Service, there may also be private claims for breach 

 of contract. 



An analysis by the Forest Service of 19 of 23 of these areas 

 indicates that logging and associated activities have been 

 planned in five areas during the next five years. It may be 



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