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Since this Committee's hearing on the Tongass in 1987, the 



National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has issued a position statement for 



riparian habitat protection in Alaska. The scientists at NMFS call for a 



minimum streamside buffer zone of 30 meters (100 feet) -- free of logging -- 



on each side of all salmon streams and tributaries. Three months after NMFS 



issued its statement, Phil Janik, Forest Service director of fisheries and 



wildlife for the Alaska region, vrrote a memo to forest supervisors rejecting 



the new policy, saying: 



It appears that the [NMFS] policy is more restrictive 

 than the provisions in our regional aquatic habitat 

 management handbook. ... Please continue to use the 

 principles and provisions of the region's Handbook. 



The sane high-volume, old-growth timber stands which attract APC 



and KPC are also essential to the survival of the Sitka black- tailed deer. 



While good populations exist today, deer populations can fluctuate wildly 



depending on the severity of winter weather. Major cyclical die-offs occur 



with very regular frequency. The last event in 1971-72 devastated deer 



populations on Kuiu, Kupreanof, and Mitkof Islands. Continued cold weather 



and heavy snowfall this winter in southeast Alaska could severely impact deer 



populations. Because of the deepest accumulations of snow this decade, an 



emergency deer hunting closure has been imposed on the northern part of the 



Tongass (Admiralty, Baranof and Chichagof Islands) as deer have migrated away 



from the clearcuts and deep snow and onto beaches in a desperate search for 



food. 



Old-growth timber shelters deer during deep snows, providing 



critical cover and important browse beneath the canopy of giant spruce and 



hemlocks. Second-growth timber, however, is worthless as deer habitat. In 



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