128 

 Senator Wirth. Mr. Leighty. 



STATEMENT OF BILL LEIGHTY, GOLD CREEK SALMON BAKE 

 SUMMERTIME OUTDOOR RESTAURANT 



Mr. Leighty. My name is Bill Leighty. I have lived in Juneau for 

 18 years operating a family operation of Gold Creek Salmon Bake 

 Summertime Outdoor Restaurant. 



Last year was our 18th season; we served 35,000 people in our 

 four month season and 80 percent of those people were tourists. We 

 employ 20 people. 



First, we depend on the unspoiled splendor of the Tongass to at- 

 tract those people from the southeast to see the wilderness. To the 

 extent that splendor is spoiled in any way by either timber or 

 mining or roads or highways or tidal waves or whatever, that di- 

 minishes the appeal and reduces the number of people that are 

 likely to be attracted there and therefore affects our business and 

 livelihood. 



The primary, the highest and best economic use of the Tongass 

 long-term I believe is primarily tourism and fishing. The negative 

 impact can be illustrated by the report we heard from All America 

 West Tours which had four cruise ships here last year. Now their 

 daily bookings have dropped from four to six — from six to four. 



Now getting back to southeast Alaska: now secondly, we depend 

 upon a continuous supply of salmon at a reasonable price, the only 

 thing that we serve as the primary ingredient, to the extent that 

 the same kind of negligence and indifference in salmon, the same 

 management that caused the Exxon Disaster prevails and also neg- 

 atively affects our business and thirdly, as a U.S. citizen, I think 

 we have better uses for our money than continuing to afford mil- 

 lion dollar subsidies. If I were you I would put the whole thing in 

 the Head Start Program. 



Now 23 specific areas in Section 302 should be permanently pro- 

 tected. This is not a lock-up; our children will have the opportunity 

 to reduce, to reverse your act of Congress with their act of Con- 

 gress if they see fit. If we do not protect these areas at this time 

 then our children will not have the opportunity 



I believe you are contemplating the loss of hundreds, perhaps 

 thousands of jobs in the tourist industry and the timber industry 

 here. We are also contemplating the loss of millions of jobs in the 

 military industrial complex unless the whole world moves beyond 

 war for its primary international conflict with pollution as a condi- 

 tion. We live in turbulent times of change and it is not in our inter- 

 est to deny the existence of and obstruct this process of change but 

 to understand them and manage them and we are all going to have 

 to change tourism and timber alike, and those of us in the tourism 

 industry will welcome the participation of those in the timber in- 

 dustry to help to build a sustainable long-term economy in south- 

 east Alaska. 



I speak in support of 346. 



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



Now I liked your remarks about Head Start as well. 



[The prepared statement of Mr. Leighty follows:] 



