8 



taken by resolution and adopted on March 6th of this year and I 

 have attached a copy of that resolution with my testimony submit- 

 ted earlier. 



The Juneau Assembly has joined other southeast communities 

 and the State of Alaska in endorsing the Southeast Conference 

 policy position on the Tongass National Forest; however we made 

 two amendments to that resolution. 



I am aware that representatives of the Southeast Conference will 

 be testifying before you tomorrow in Sitka on the details of that 

 position so I merely wish to emphasize the five main points the 

 conference first was called for: clarification of the mission of the 

 National Forest to include an allowable harvest of up to 4.5 billion 

 board feet per decade depending on marketing conditions and sub- 

 ject to multiple use values of the Tongass National Forest. In our 

 view it is important to maintain existing jobs in the forest yet im- 

 perative we protect fish and wildlife and their habitat. Second, the 

 Conference has called for establishment of a specific intensive man- 

 agement fund to ensure that the Forest Service is able to make 

 sure that marginal timber stands viable sales for the industry 

 while sustaining other uses of the forest. 



Third, the conference is called for setting aside twelve areas for 

 protection due to the high values of fish and wildlife production in 

 those areas and here I wish to emphasize that the Juneau Assem- 

 bly has firmly gone on record in favor of also protecting the Mans- 

 field Peninsula of Admiralty Island from commercial timber har- 

 vest by adding it as a thirteenth protected area. This is an area of 

 great importance to Juneau residents. 



The conference has also called for providing land trades, ex- 

 changes or purchases of non-wilderness lands to increase the 

 timber base for allowable harvest levels and fifth, the conference 

 has called for the establishment of an economic diversification fund 

 for grants and loans to provide opportunities to strengthen the 

 more diverse southeastern economy. 



The second issue that the Juneau Assembly has focused on is the 

 paramount importance we place on the U.S. Forest Service work- 

 ing with all southeastern communities in the preparation of all re- 

 visions in the Tongass Land Management Plan and any reports 

 that would be required to prepare for congress. 



Mr. Chairman and Senators, this proposal was developed to meet 

 the needs of the Tongass National Forest and the people who live 

 in it. We believe it is fair, workable and realistic and urge you to 

 look carefully at the compromise crafted by the southeastern resi- 

 dents. 



Senator Wirth. Thank you for your presentation, Mr. Botelho, 

 you hit the three minute mark at 3:05, setting a wonderful prece- 

 dent for everybody else all day long and we do appreciate that. 



[The prepared statement of Mayor Botelho follows:] 



