247 



C. Forest Utilization. Planning and Management fPoints 4. 

 9__and_JL51. 



Sealaska's concern is that adoption of either S. 346 or 

 S. 237 would create a disequilibrium among the multiple uses 

 of the Tongass. S. 346 would favor all non-consumptive uses 

 over timber. While the bill affords commendable protection 

 for fisheries and subsistence uses, there is a risk that it 

 would leave only a very minimal role for commercial timber 

 production. S. 237 is the opposite. While it probably 

 would improve the balance between uses, it perpetuates the 

 4.5 billion board foot mandate and thereby continues a 

 preference for timber production over other multiple uses. 

 Sealaska recommends a balanced, multiple-use approach, with 

 market demand determining the maximum level of consumptive 

 uses, sxibject to the sustained-yield principle and explicit 

 protection of subsistence uses, fisheries resources, and 

 environmental values. 



Sealaska also recommends that the Forest Service's 

 road-building plans be coordinated with regional 

 transportation plans, and that local communities be more 

 directly involved in both the planning and implementation of 

 forest management. Sealaska 's concerns in this respect were 

 included in its comments on the Forest Service's 1985 

 section 706(b) report. Primary concerns are of two types. 

 First, as permanent improvements, forest roads should be 

 designed to meet the transportation needs of local 

 communities, to the extent feasible and consistent with 

 other forest management objectives. Forest road planning 

 should actively involve local communities and state 

 agencies. Second, harvest of timber from federal lands 

 should be coordinated with harvesting on private lands to 

 avoid doubling of impacts on Native villages and local 

 communities. Local communities and Native villages may, for 

 example, ask the Forest Service to defer harvesting that 



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