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LAND AREAS 



Current legislative proposals to withdraw from multiple-use 

 management 1.8 million additional acres from the Tongass 

 National Forest are not sound either from a practical or policy- 

 standpoint. One must, in analyzing this topic, recall that the 

 Tongass National Forest originally (that is before all previous 

 wilderness and other protected status removals from multiple 

 use) consisted of 5.5 million acres of commercial forestland 

 out of a total of 16.5 million acres. Thus, 11.0 million 

 acres, or two-thirds of the Tongass National Forest land base 

 has from time immemorial consisted of non-commercial 

 forestlands and effectively wilderness areas of many types. Of 

 the original 5.5 million acres of commercial forestland, 1.6 

 million acres is already designated as wilderness. Another 2.2 

 million acres of the commercial forestland is already 

 restricted from timber harvest in favor of other uses of the 

 Forest. Thus, only the remaining 1.7 million acres comprise 

 the multiple use timber base of the Tongass. Moreover, the 

 Forest Service management program for multiple use lands gives 

 extensive recognition to other values such as fisheries, 

 wildlife habitat and subsistence, by provision for such 

 protections as riparian management zones along streams, 

 wildlife retention zones and location of timber cutting units 

 to protect aesthetics. 



One must also remember that in 1980, Congress placed 5.4 

 million acres of the Tongass in wilderness, which is the size 



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