319 



Since 1976 set aside timber has been sold competitively. If the 4.5 

 billion per decade cut is reduced I believe the S.B.A. program will 

 dissolve. On the other hand, how trustworthy would Congress be 

 deemed if you renege on the 50-year contracts with 16 years left on 

 one and 20 years on the other? Common sense tells us to live up to 

 our agreements. Our leaders must set the example. 



Live up to Congress' previous commitments and give credit 

 where credit is due. The Forest Service has done a tremendous job 

 and will continue to as long as the land is not locked up. 



Thank you. 



Senator Wirth. Thank you very much, Mr. Burrell. Now we ap- 

 preciate the five of you being here and thank you very much for 

 being so patient so late in the afternoon. 



Our next panel is Mr. Harbour, Virgil Soderberg, Perry Aposto- 

 lis, Jan Paulson and Dan Lindgren and Alan Monk and our final 

 on-deck hitters will come to the chair, Dick Ransdell, Greg Head, 

 Angelo Martin and Mr. Sean Harbour. We will start with Mr. Don 

 Harbour if we may. 



Mr. Harbour. 



STATEMENT OF DON HARBOUR 



Mr. Harbour. Senators and people, my name is Don Harbour 

 and I own and operate Harbour Logging Company. I have lived and 

 worked in the Tongass for most of my last 30 years and have spent 

 most of that time in remote logging camps with my family. 



I have lived in many areas of southeast Alaska and have logged 

 both old growth and new growth timber. The second growth was 

 originally logged in 1906 by oxen and was 24 to 30 inches in diame- 

 ter, healthy spruce and hemlock, and that was in 1966 which 

 makes it 60 years old. 



Much of the old growth I have logged has been overripe or blow- 

 down timber that was over 50 percent suitable only for pulp. 



Without the pulp mills to provide a market for the large volume 

 of overripe and defective timber a small independent logging con- 

 tractor like myself could not stay in business. We have no way to 

 dispose of this but of course there was — the 50-year contracts with 

 the pulp mills made it possible for many people like myself to live 

 year-round and raise families in this wilderness known as the Ton- 

 gass. 



I have been here long enough to see the benefits of the multiple- 

 use concept. I have flown, floated and driven many times over most 

 of southeast Alaska and have watched areas I logged 30 years ago 

 flourish with new healthy timber growth. I have been in second 

 growth the Russians logged that I defy most of the rabid preserva- 

 tionists to tell the difference from old growth, other than it was an 

 exceptionally healthy stand of so-called "old growth". 



I am fed up with seeing pictures of new clearcuts in the media 

 and never seeing photos of 20 or 40 year old clearcuts showing how 

 tall and healthy the new growth is. 



The road system in the Tongass is a wonderful thing because I 

 enjoy seeing the older people driving around if they couldn't walk 

 it, and experiencing the Tongass first hand, instead of having to fly 



