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3UBC0MMITTEE ON PUBLIC LANDS. NATIONAL PARKS. AND FORESTS 

 SENATE ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE 



ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS FROM THE HONORABLE CONRAD BUPJJS 



QUESTION 1. WOULD YOUR GROUP AGREE TO AN UNDESIGNATION OF 

 EXISTING WILDERNESS IN THE TONGASS TO BE RECONSIDERED IN THE NEW 

 LAND MANAGEMENT PLAN? 



No. SEACC believes undesignat ion of existing Wilderness 

 would simply be an attempt by the two pulp mills to exchange th<? 

 tiny amount or high volume old-growth currently in Wilderness in 

 return for protecting another important area. It is the high 

 volume old-growth that is the highest value fish and wildlife 

 habi tat . 



It should be noted that three-quarters of the Tongass 

 designated Wilderness is rock. ice. tundra, or scrub timber. 

 Less than 1.5% (a mere 80.000 acres) of designated Tongass 

 Wilderness is considered to be commercially important timber 

 (over 30.000 board feet/acre) that meets the agency's criteria 

 for t imber harvest 



Only 30* of the high value fish and wildlife habitat on the 

 Tongass (identified by the Forest Service) is currently 

 permanently protected as Wilderness. Many of the unprotected 

 high value fish and wildlife areas in the Tongass that should 

 have been granted permanent protection in 1980 should now be 

 granted protection by law. 



QUESTION 2. HOW MUCH TOTAL WILDERNESS DOES YOUR ORGANIZATION 

 ULTIMATELY WANT FROM THE TONGASS NF? 



The existing 5.376 million acres of Tongass Wilderness would 

 be increased by 1.8 million acres (as proposed in H.R. 987) for a 

 total of 7.17 million acres. Currently 32% of the Tongass is 

 designated as Wilderness. Twelve national forests have a higher 

 percentage of the forest acres in Wilderness than the Tongass. 

 If all 23 areas were designated as Wilderness the new percentage 

 would be 42.9% of the Tongass National Forest. The Tongass would 

 then rank as number five in the National Forest System. 



If all 23 areas were granted Wilderness status, only 49.000 

 acres of additional "commercially important timber" would be off- 

 limits to logging and roads. This would reduce the scheduled 

 timber supply by only 11% (48.68 mmbf) annually, leaving an 

 average timber supply of 401 mmbf per year. Since passage of 

 ANILCA. the average actual harvest has been 285 mmbf /year, with 

 the highest actual harvest 340 mmbf in 1981. (These figures are 

 for net saw log volume, which is the volume used for computing the 

 450 timber supply goal.) 



