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would like to submit that for the record and I will now begin my 

 testimony. 



I have worked as a guide for Alaska Discovery, a wilderness guid- 

 ing company, for the seven years and have lived in southeast 

 Alaska for ten. Alaska Discovery is the oldest outfitted guide in the 

 Tongass, operating trips for 17 years around southeast Alaska, 

 based from a dozen communities. 



Our company strong opposes 237 and is fully supportive of S.346 

 and we thank you Senator Wirth for its introduction. 



We favor seeing management of the Tongass shift from heavily 

 subsidized large-scale timber harvesting to a more balanced and 

 economically sound program which would include diversified small- 

 er logging operations, conventional short-term competitively-bid 

 sales, along with wildlife and recreational management. 



Current Forest Service policy has our tourism business paying 

 three per cent of its adjusted gross income up front to the Forest 

 Service in permit fees while the $40 + million subsidy to the timber 

 industry helps log some of our key recreational-use areas and in 

 fact the Forest Service now charges more to take one person into 

 the forest to look at the trees for one day than it charges the pulp 

 companies for a thousand board feet of virgin timber. 



Alaskan Wilderness experience is the single largest drawing card 

 for the visitor industry in Alaska and as Dale Pihlman put it this 

 morning, the number one attraction is our Inside Passage. The in- 

 dustry is second only to the oil industry in this state and that will 

 only last and will be second for another decade and now I will look 

 at some of the wilderness desires in southeast but S. 346 identifies 

 the 23 smaller special value areas that are important to many 

 southeast Communities and visitors. 



Alaska Discovery depends upon many of these areas for their 

 wilderness values, including the Pt. Adolphus-Mud Bay Area which 

 at this point is our most popular trip in the Tongass. 



I will sum up: The timber supply will still be available, we just 

 want to protect the old growth which under Forest Service manage- 

 ment is not a renewable resource. 



We strongly support your Bill 346 with the addition of perma- 

 nent protection as wilderness for the 23 areas. 



Thank you. 



Senator Wirth. Thank you, Mr. Sloss, we will include your state- 

 ment in full in the record. 



[The prepared statement of Mr. Sloss follows:] 



