339 



The commissioning forces were in a position because we came to 

 understand the Congress intends to take action on the Tongass and 

 we believe it was irresponsible for us not to give it our best shot. 



Committee members, Ralph Gregory, Chairman and Mayor of 

 Ketchikan; John Dapcevich, Mayor of Sitka; Rubin Yost, Mayor of 

 Pelican; McKie Campbell, assemblyman and member of the city of 

 Juneau. This group represents large and small communities, as 

 well as extremely diverse interests. The position that the Tongass 

 committee developed was formed over 22 weeks of work, intense 

 interviews, research and discussion, plus creative negotiations as 

 well as frequent soul searches. 



An overview of our findings was that the well-being of the people 

 of Southeast Alaska is inexplicably linked to the management of 

 the Tongass National Forest. The economics of the Southeast is 

 subject to decisions that the Forest Service makes regarding per- 

 mits, sales, practices and day-to-day management of the Tongass. 



The 65,000 residents of Southeast Alaska rely on four primary in- 

 dustries, timber, tourism, fishing, and mining, in many cases a sub- 

 sistence way of life for employment in the economic interest struc- 

 ture. Our economy is beginning to show more strength in tradition- 

 al industry such as fishing, mining and forest products. It appears 

 that if our trading markets do not falter, we will see continued 

 growth and diversification . 



The Southeast Alaska over the last 50 years has given its resi- 

 dents one of the State's most economically diverse and stable geo- 

 graphic areas. However, the future of this economic unit is tied to 

 continued vitality in the timber, fishing, tourism and mining indus- 

 tries, as well as subsistence. These industries are interrelated and 

 dependent on one another for their viability. 



If the committee gains anything from their visit to take back to 

 your colleagues, we hope it is this: The position that the Southeast 

 Conference has designed has been developed by Alaskans. It is our 

 economic livelihood. The Tongass is our future. The action Con- 

 gress takes will immediately and directly impact the 65,000 people 

 living in the Tongass who deserve to be heard. 



It is your burden to continue to hear the questions surrounding 

 the Tongass National Forest, complex, extremely emotional, 

 modern, and detailed explanations and arguments of special inter- 

 est groups. Debate is serious and sometimes painful. We always re- 

 flected the need to clarify the mission of the U.S. Forest Service in 

 the Tongass. 



We began our work by identifying the underlying interests of 

 communities into general consensus points. These points were dis- 

 tributed, debated, expanded and refined. The committee then went 

 to work melding the general consensus points into a specific policy 

 statement that I am officially giving to you today. 



Mr. Chairman, let me respectfully suggest to you and your col- 

 leagues and your staff that anyone deciding to explore this issue 

 reasonably will find that there are five major areas that must be 

 addressed. I will identify those as how the Southeast Conference 

 addresses them. 



First, we must clarify the mission of the National Forest Service 

 in the Tongass. The Southeast Conference proposes that this be a 

 clear multiple-use mission, and that includes allowable harvest of 



