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will only be available tintil the respective rate redetermination 

 in 1989 and 1990. At that time, the cost of timber available 

 under competitive bids should be comparable to the price that 

 would have applied to the long-term sales. Therefore, after 

 1990, there should be no "additional cost" for replacement of 

 long-term sale timber and no compensation would be required. 



Lands Protection 



Since the adoption of the 1979 Tongass Land Management Plan 

 (TLMP) , the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) has 

 identified specific areas, designated by the plan for timber 

 production, that are of critical importance for fish and wildlife 

 habitat. The Wilderness Society, Southeast Alaska Conservation 

 Council, and many of the 16 southeast Alaska communities that 

 support the Tongass Timber Reform Act have identified additional 

 areas of significance for recreational, scenic, and wilderness 

 values. Each has requested the Forest Service defer logging and 

 roadbuilding on these lands until the land management plan can be 

 revised based on new information regarding the impacts of these 

 activities and the demand for Tongass timber. 



S. 346 has identified 2 3 areas having special values for 

 fish, wildlife, subsistence, recreation, old growth, and other 

 resources protection pending the revision of TLMP. It requires 

 the Forest Service to conform that revision to a new set of 

 management directives that restore the multiple use balance 

 missing from current Tongass management. 



The Wilderness Society supports the moratorium provisions of 

 S. 346. It is apparent that the 1979 TLMP and ANILCA failed to 

 adequately protect sufficient high volume growth timber stands 

 which, by virtue of their location and their characteristics, 

 constitute some of the most valuable fish and wildlife habitat on 

 the Tongass. The Forest Service calculates that only 87 of the 

 294 Value Comparison Units (VCU) — the basic planning unit used 

 by TLMP to describe forest areas and values — or 30 percent of 

 the high value wildlife areas identified by TLMP are permanently 

 protected by wilderness designation. Of 490 high value fisheries 

 areas only the Tongass, only 139 (28 percent) are in wilderness. 

 In addition, 31 high-value wildlife areas and 65 high-value fish 

 habitat are temporary designated by TLMP to be managed in a 

 roadless state for unroaded and primitive recreation. 



Enactment of S. 346 will give the Forest Service the 

 flexibility in the land planning revision process to protect 

 additional high value fish and wildlife habitat areas in order to 

 restore a more appropriate balance between commodity production 

 and the other multiple uses of the Tongass. To that end, the 

 moratorium proposed by S. 346 is a reasonable first step. 



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