124 



A General Accounting Office report (GAO/RCED-88-54) released last 

 year confirms these numbers. GAO, however, chooses to apply the controversial 

 new Forest Service accounting system to the Tongass. Thus, while the GAO 

 readily admits that the difference between outlays and income in 1986 was 

 $A4 . 6 million, by amortizing the cost of roads over a hundred year period GAO 

 concludes that the Forest Service lost "only" $22.1 million. Unfortunately, 

 this method of accounting grossly overstates the usefulness of the roads being 

 built on the Tongass while at the same time understating the cost the taxpayer 

 is bearing. 



Many of the roads built by the Forest Service are on uninhabited 

 islands. After 20 years, they are choked with a thick growth of alder that 

 precludes all travel along them by vehicle or by foot. Moreover, many of the 

 rural Alaska communities in our region vehemently oppose development of local 

 roads because of the profound changes they can bring to traditional ways of 

 life. One such community, Tenakee Springs located on northern Chichagof 

 Island, has been actively opposing the construction of such a Forest Service 

 road since 1985. Last year, the Forest Service actually began condemnation 

 proceedings in order to complete the road on city property! 



Road building in also a "cost" to wildlife populations. The 



Alaska Department of Fish and Game has written: 



...southeast Alaska has more linear miles of roads per 

 square mile than any comparably sized part of 

 Alaska. .. .Why is this a problem? In a nutshell, 

 unroaded islands have a built-in "refuge effect"; that 

 is, more harvesting or disturbance of wildlife occurs 

 only near the coast. Wildlife populations in the 

 islands' interiors receive little pressure, and can 

 replenish adjacent stocks that are more heavily 

 impacted. Roads eliminate that effect. Roads mean more 



