215 

 Senator Wirth. Mr. Kirchhoff. 



STATEMENT OF MATTHEW D. KIRCHHOFF, ALASKA CHAPTER, 



THE WILDLIFE SOCIETY 



Mr. Kirchhoff. My name is Matt Kirchhoff and I am a research 

 biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. I have 

 been working since 1978 in southeast Alaska towards the research 

 project. I an here today representing the Alaska Chapter of the 

 Wildlife Society, which is a professional organization of over 150 bi- 

 ologists in our state. 



I appreciate the opportunity to testify before you today and I 

 would like to add to the record a paper titled "Wildlife and Old- 

 growth Forests in Southeast Alaska" which was recently published. 

 It goes into more detail than I can go into here. 



A couple of issues just briefly that I would like to respond to. It 

 has been argued and we hear a lot of percentages, we are talking 

 about whether we should use 80 percent or 90 percent. I have 

 heard the 10 percent argument used a lot and they are only allow- 

 ing me 10 percent of the time so what is the problem? Well, it is a 

 little misleading if you look at it that way because as you know 

 most of the Tongass is either non-forested or non-commercial 

 timber and so it has no value to the timber industry. Also, very 

 much below the reach of the wildlife species. 



Senator Wirth. You say most of the time, what are you saying? 



Mr. Kirchhoff. 65 percent. 



Senator Wirth. So we are talking about 35 percent, is that right? 

 Is that a generally agreed number? 



Mr. Kirchhoff. Generally a third of the time. 



Senator Wirth. In the Tongass generally a third is what? 



Mr. Kirchhoff. The cost line is commercial, it is about half of 

 that amount in low volume. Much of the economic timber in 



Senator Wirth. Half of the remaining 35 percent? 



Mr. Kirchhoff. That is correct. 



Senator Wirth. I 



Senator Murkowski. I wonder if the witness could indicate not 

 in percentages but in actual acreage in the Tongass, what is the 

 total acreage in the Tongass National Forest? 



Senator Wirth. 16.9 million acres. 



Senator Murkowski. That is correct, and you are saying 65 per- 

 cent of that is non-timber? 



Mr. Kirchhoff. Not commercial forest lands and that includes 

 alpine lakes and rocks and glaciers. 



Senator Murkowski. And the part that is not commercial timber 

 is what? 



Mr. Kirchhoff. About 26. 



Senator Murkowski. And you say up to 1.7 is permanent 

 growth? 



Mr. Kirchhoff. I am not familiar with that figure. 



Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Senator Wirth. You have 5.6 in commercial timber, is that 

 right? 



Mr. Kirchhoff. Roughly. I think that is classified as commercial 

 timber. Certain applicability standards have to be reached before 



