85 



Senator Wirth. Thank you very much, Mr. WilUams, and all of 

 you on the Panel. Thank you, the statements were very good and 

 thoughtful statements. 



Are there any questions? 



Senator Murkowski. No. 



Senator Wirth. We appreciate you all being with us. Thank you 

 so much for being here this morning. 



I will ask Panel III to move in: Mr. Ray Roberts, Mr. Thomas of 

 the Tlingit-Haida Council and Mr. William Williams, President of 

 the Cape Fox Corporation and Mr. Atkinson, Mayor of Metlakatla 

 Community and our next group will come up and into the second 

 level of chairs to — Mr. Amends, Mr. Bacon, Ms. Andrews and Ms. 

 Troll. 



Come in and we thank you very much for being here, for joining 

 us, and you all are familiar with the rules of the committee. We 

 will put your statements in the record and hope that you will be 

 able to summarize within that three-minute period of time. 



Mr. Roberts. 



STATEMENT OF RAY ROBERTS, REPRESENTING ED THOMAS, 

 TRIBAL PRESIDENT OF THE CENTRAL COUNCIL OF TLINGIT- 

 HAIDA INDIAN TRIBES 



Mr. Roberts. Good morning. My name is Ray Roberts, filling in 

 for President Ed Thomas. I am Tribal Vice President of the Tlingit- 

 Haida Indian Tribes. I wish to thank the committee giving me the 

 opportunity to express the views of the Central Council on a 

 matter of great importance, the Tongass Timber Reform Legisla- 

 tion. 



The Central Council is recognized by the Federal Government 

 and the Judiciary as an Indian Tribal Government. Members 

 reside primarily in southeast Alaska and have recognized chapters 

 in Anchorage, Seattle and San Francisco. 



The 1929 Alaska Native Brotherhood Convention authorized 

 action against the United States for approximately 20 million acres 

 of land in southeast Alaska to which the Tribes claimed Aboriginal 

 Title. In 1968 the Tribe received a seven and a half million dollar 

 judgment The Council operates as a result of that judgment. By its 

 constitution the Council promotes the welfare of the Tribes and ex- 

 ercises other powers accruing to it through its federally-recognized 

 sovereignty. 



The Council has a long history of recognition, commencing with 

 the BIA's Indian Involvement Program and later the Self-Determi- 

 nation Act and has administered educational, employment and 

 human services programs for the BIA since 1970. 



In the short time we have allotted I would like to highlight the 

 issues of greatest importance to our members. They are fisheries 

 enhancement, preservation of subsistence resources and a reasona- 

 ble balance between conservation and development. 



I grew up in the Prince of Wales Area and I have been involved 

 directly or indirectly in fishing all my life and a great many of our 

 members share in that history. We are troubled by what we feel is 

 an over-emphasis on timber management as the Tongass Forest's 

 priority to the detriment of other values. We feel it essential that 



