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constitute a term of art from both the appropriations process and forest 

 planning regulations, S.237 is even more inflexible than the original Section 

 705 language. Regardless of new scientific information, natural catastrophes, 

 major changes in the world economy or the Alaska timber industry, or new 

 national laws regarding forest management, each new Forest Service plan 

 governing the uses of the Tongass would be locked in at keeping 4.5 billion 

 board feet of timber on the chopping block each decade. 



A 1988 General Accounting Office (GAO) report jointly requested by 

 Senators Stevens and Proxmire found that becuase of the 4.5 billion board foot 

 timber supply provision of Section 705(a), the Forest Service wasted $131 

 million from 1981 to 1986 for timber sales that found no buyers. That is why 

 the GAO recommended that the law be modified to remove the "rigid per decade 

 requirement. " 



By Congressionally dictating a timber base of economic and 

 uneconomic timber and leaving the 50-year contracts intact, Murkowski's bill 

 guarantees that: 1) the pulp mills will continue to concentrate cutting in 

 the best, high-volume stands of the forest yet pay stumpage based on the 

 average quality of timber contained in the sale areas; 2) two- thirds of 

 Tongass timber will be sold without competitive bidding well into the next 

 century. S.237 prevents the Forest Service from considering alternatives 

 other than retaining the current industrial tree farm management program of 

 the Tongass . 



By not protecting any additional fish and wildlife habitat, the 

 Alaska Seantors ' bill assures serious long-term reductions in fish and 

 wildlife populations coupled with associated negative impacts on commercial 

 fishing, tourism and recreation, and subsistence hunting and fishing. As long 



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