159 



prices — 1977 through 1980 — the Forest Service still lost 

 money, to the tune of $74 million, on timber sales from the 

 Tongass. After Section 705 of the Alaska Lands Act gave the 

 Forest Service a "blank check," timber sale deficits have grown 

 steadily. These expenditures, however, have not been able to 

 alter the reality of falling market demand and falling 

 employment. Despite all the timber program expenditures, forty 

 percent of the Tongass dependent timber employment has been lost 

 since 1980. 



The argument that the designation of some prime timber land 

 as wilderness has contributed to the timber industry problems of 

 the past eight years is not substantiated by the facts. Of the 

 100,000 acres of timber in the highest volume class (50 thousand 

 board feet per acre or more) on the Tongass, only nine percent 

 has been set aside in either wilderness or roadless designations. 

 In its draft 1986 Section 706 (b) report to Congress on the 

 status of the Tongass circulated for public review last year, the 

 Forest Service stated "...the anticipated increased dependence on 

 the low volume classes and areas requiring special harvesting 

 technology [resulting from wilderness designations] has not 

 occurred during the 1980 through 1984 period, nor has there been 

 any apparent restriction on access to harvest units as a result 

 of wilderness designations." 



Moreover, this result is perfectly consistent with the 

 Forest Service's 1979 Tongass Land Management Plan, which stated 

 that "...amount of land allocated to [the timber base] 

 contains. . .the lion's share of operable commercial forest land. 

 This is important to consider since it indicated that diminishing 

 returns can be expected from allocation of more areas to [the 

 timber base]." There has never been, and there is not presently, 

 a shortage of timber to harvest in Southeast Alaska. 



Changing market conditions, competition from other 

 suppliers, substitute products, and increasing costs to access 

 timber make a compelling case that timbering on the Tongass under 

 Section 705 of the Alaska Lands Act will become even more costly 

 in the future than it has been in the past. 



For these reasons. The wilderness Society recommends that 

 Congress enact S. 346 and repeal Sections 705(a) and (d) of the 

 Alaska Lands Act. The Tongass is the only national forest in the 

 country rigidly bound by a timber supply goal and a permanent 

 appropriation specified in law. It is also the only national 

 forest that is exempt from the requirement that the Forest 

 Service identify lands not suitable for timber production and 

 withdraw such lands from production. 



