421 



The 50-year contracts and Section 705 of ANILCA have failed to serve their 

 purpose of providing for a stable regional economy in southeast Alaska. 

 Instead, they detract from emplo>'inent in larger regional industries like 

 commercial fishing and tourism, endanger wildlife that has the Tongass as one 

 of its last strongholds, and gradually destroy a national treasure. These are 

 strong words, Mr. Chairman--but no stronger than the sad reality out there on 

 the ground. 



In 1987, at hearings on this same subject before the House Interior Committee, 

 we pointed out that clearcutting replaces diverse, uneven-aged stands having 

 high habitat value, with clearcuts and even-aged second-growth stands of low 

 diversity and low value for many wildlife species. Based on present 

 knowledge, it is not possible to significantly enhance second-growth forests 

 for wildlife. Two hundred to 300 years are needed for second-growth forests 

 to naturally acquire the characteristics of old-growth forests, which are 

 essentially a nonrenewable resource. 



In Southeast Alaska, old-growth forests provide critical winter habitat for 

 Sitka black-tailed deer. Under current logging plans, about half of this 

 habitat will be lost forever by the end of the first 100-year rotation or 

 cutting cycle. As a result, deer populations will be severely reduced. 



Another wildlife species of national concern and importance is the grizzly 

 bear. While millions of taxpayer dollars are being spent to save the few 

 hundred grizzlies that remain in the American West, millions are being spent 

 to destroy grizzly forest habitat in Southeast Alaska. Recent studies by the 

 Alaska Department of Fish and Game show that the bears utilize old-growth 

 forest stands for escape cover, feeding, and denning. Road building divides 

 up grizzly bear habitat and bisects seasonal migration corridors. Studies in 

 other parts of the country show that grizzly bears have learned to avoid roads 

 since that is where they are commonly shot. They are also shot at or near 

 logging camps. Scientists estimate that bears killed in defense of life and 

 property around logging camps in Southeast Alaska could make up as much as 10 

 percent of the reported kill. John Craighead, in his nationally renowned 

 studies of grizzly bears in the West, suggested that human-induced mortality 

 associated with logging was one of the major causes of grizzly population 

 declines. 



To sum up, Section 705(a) and the contracts have certainly ruined many parts 

 of the Tongass forest, one of the most beautiful and spectacular environments 

 anywhere on earth. Uninhabited islands and drainages have been opened up; 

 rivers have been silted; crucial habitat for important animal and bird species 

 has been eliminated; wilderness has been destroyed. 



But there is something else. Southeast Alaska is probably the least known 

 part of that magnificent state, and yet, in the opinion of many -- certainly 

 myself -- it is probably the most beautiful. About the size of the state of 

 Indiana, its spectacular combination of high peaks and glaciers literally 

 rising out of the sea, its abundance of sparkling fish-filled rivers, its 

 awesome populations of eagles and bears, its superb remaining carpet of dark 

 green forests -- all amount to one of the great scenic, wilderness, and 

 wildlife treasures of this entire planet. It is clear that the economic 

 future of Southeast Alaska lies not in heavily subsidized timber operations 

 which continue to lose money and jobs. The future rather is in tourism and 

 the fishing industry, and a timber industry geared to a local, not a world, 

 economy . 



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