438 



50%) is harvested. Timber companies bid only on the highest 

 value timber (high-volume old growth), thereby strongly skewing 

 the harvest toward the high-volume classes. To maintain the 

 supply of 450 mbf per year to the timber companies, the high- 

 volume classes will be rapidly lost. The effects of this are: 



1) Serious impacts on fisheries due to logging in major 



river drainages. 



2) Serious impacts on wildlife populations due to the 



dependence of several important species on high-volume 

 old growth habitat (i.e. Sitka blacktail deer, 

 Vancouver Canada Goose). 



Moreover, one of the major means of using the Tongass Timber 

 Supply Fund to support the timber industry has been to "pre-road" 

 areas that will be offered for sale, thereby lowering the costs 

 of harvesting the timber. Even though less than 450 mbf per year 

 are logged, the Forest Service attempts to pre-road sufficient 

 area to supply the entire goal. Consequently, areas that may not 

 be logged for decades -- if ever -- are degraded in terms of 

 fisheries and wildlife values and destroyed in terms of 

 wi Iderness . 



S. 346 is not anti-timber industry. It would strengthen the 

 position of other timber companies by placing Alaska timber 

 products at their fair market value. Given the current federal 

 budget deficit, it would be irresponsible to incur the losses in 

 the Tongass even if they met the stated employment goals in an 

 environmentally sound fashion. However, the employment 

 "benefits" of current Tongass policy represent, at best, only a 

 shift of jobs from other sectors to timber and, at worst, may 

 represent a cost in timber jobs. Thus, I urge the committee to 

 support S. 346. 



Sincerely, / 



Dr. Walter V. Reid 



1900 Biltmore Street N.W., #2 



Washington, D.C. 20006 



