74 



This might seem like a large order; it is, but remember it is only 

 for a very short period of time each year. 



Last year during the short tourist season, approximately three 

 months, we serviced 22 large cruise vessels with over one thousand 

 port calls, carrying over 198,000 passengers, tourists. This number 

 would be nearly doubled when one considers that many of the pas- 

 sengers travel via vessel one way and fly the other. With very few 

 exceptions the many requirements vitally needed by the cruise 

 ships, as noted, are here in place because of the year-round utiliza- 

 tion by the timber industry. This short-time use also applies to fish- 

 ing vessels. 



It does not take a CPA to tell us the great cost of providing all of 

 the necessities for a short season, if they were not in place, because 

 the timber industry needs them and keeps them viable. 



Since there is no free lunch who would be paying? — the passen- 

 ger, who wants to see our great state and resources. These people 

 are your constituents. You should not price them out of the oppor- 

 tunity to come to Alaska. 



We all must do everything possible to maintain the timber indus- 

 try at its present level, which will not only help those of us who 

 are here and dependent on the industry for a living, but those 

 people who have yet to discover this great land. 



With the rapid depletion of private timber, the need to maintain 

 federal timber at its present level becomes increasingly important 

 to continue steady year-round employment. 



I want to go on record favoring Senator Murkowski's bill. 



Senator Wirth. Thank you very much, Mr. Taro. 



Mr. Stone. 



STATEMENT OF ROGER A. STONE 



Mr. Stone. My name is Roger Stone. I am 38 years old and a 

 banker by profession. I am married with two children and I am an 

 Alaskan by choice, not by accident. 



When I first saw southeast Alaska in 1973 I was overwhelmed by 

 a land full of natural beauty rich in natural resources and tremen- 

 dous economic potential and inhabited by people with something 

 very special in them and about them. It took me several more 

 years after that first visit to figure out what that special quality 

 was. Alaskans, especially those of us who live in southeast, not 

 only live on the last frontier, we in a very real sense are the last 

 pioneers. Alaskans, as I discovered, are special because everyone of 

 us who truly calls Alaska home have been gifted somehow with a 

 can-do spirit. We believe that given the right opportunities we can 

 benefit from the mistakes made by those who have gone before and 

 learn the necessary lessons to do those things right in Alaska. The 

 true spirit of Alaska is engendered by the realization that we all 

 live very close to the land and to nature. All of us here depend di- 

 rectly on the products of the land and the sea and the services that 

 are needed to support these resource extraction businesses. People 

 come from all over the world every summer to admire this great 

 land we are fortunate enough to live in. They gaze at our lifestyle 

 with respect and even envy and maybe wish they were hearty 

 enough or lucky enough to be a part of the great North. 



