409 



-5- 



We believe that terminating these contracts Is critically 

 important to the sound multiple-use management of the Tongass. 

 These contracts have allowed timber companies and the Forest 

 Service to circximvent federal laws designed to ensure multiple- 

 use management and environmental protection of the Tongass. 

 These contracts have also restricted the development of a 

 competitive timber industry in southeast Alaska. There is no 

 justifiable reason for Congress to continue to facilitate 

 destruction of critical old growth forests in this economically 

 damaging fashion. 



Pending the required revision of the Tongass Land Management 

 Plan to provide balanced management for all of the forest's 

 resource, S. 346 also seeks to protect 23 critically important 

 areas from the effects of logging and reading. NWF supports 

 protection for these areas, as they afford fish and wildlife 

 habitat values that must be protected to sustain the resource 

 base for the region's fisheries and tourism industries, and for 

 the subsistence way of life. Unfortunately, S. 346 would provide 

 only temporary protection for these areas. While this is the 

 only weaJcness of the bill, we firmly believe that these areas are 

 deserving of permanent designation as wilderness. We therefore 

 support the amendment of S. 346 to provide permanent protection 

 for the 23 specified areas. 



