424 



this area in terms of commercial fish habitat and subsistence use 

 and tourism potential, it is incredible that we would risk jeopardiz- 

 ing the integrity of this area. This action would not be justifiable, 

 and the legislation that creates such a situation should be changed. 

 A mandated supply will render Forest Service planning meaning- 

 less. It means that other multiple use considerations will always be 

 second to the need to supply the timber required by law. A 50-year 

 contract with exclusive rights to a geographic area gives too much 

 control to the timber contractor and too little consideration to the 

 affected communities that were not in existence or were ignored 

 when the contract was signed. 



During the last five months, I have been a member of the South- 

 east Conference's special targets committee, working to find the 

 bottom line to meet the minimum needs of all Southeast communi- 

 ties. We worked out five key points, two of which I will elaborate 

 on. 



The first is clarifying the mission of the Forest Service to include 

 an allowable harvest of up to 4.5 billion board feet per decade, to 

 be adjusted at the Secretary's discretion through the Tongass Land 

 Management process, based on market demand and multiple use 

 considerations. 



The second point is our recognition of communities' needs to 

 have certain areas protected, and it resulted in our calling for 12 

 areas to be permanently set aside. 



Pelican stands by its original resolutions. However, we support 

 the Committee's recommendations as a final bottom line compro- 

 mise. I hope you will consider this compromise in your delibera- 

 tions. As citizens of Southeast Alaska, we are all interested in the 

 same thing, the stands of high-volume, multiple old growth. Previ- 

 ous wilderness designations did not sufficiently address this issue, 

 and a mandated supply level does not contain the planning process 

 to resolve it. True multiple use management means no one can 

 stop it; it is permanently guaranteed, except that of the planners, 

 and cannot occur with a Congressionally mandated bias. 



I urge you to amend it to allow the Tongass to be preserved and 

 managed as multiple use. 



I would also like to submit a petition from the Pelican Forestry 

 Council which is interested in management of forests, signed by 50 

 residents, and I have also attached two letters of people who would 

 like to testify but were not able to. 



Senator Wirth. Thank you very much, Mr. Yost, and if you leave 

 those with us we will make sure they are included in the record. 



I would like to make the same request of you that I did of Mayor 

 Powell and others. The contents of the Governor's proposal, and I 

 am sure you are familiar with this, have included for the Lisianski 

 River 134,000 acres, and the legislation that I have introduced has 

 a broader designation, the Chichagof, which includes the Lisianski, 

 of 350,000 acres. 



Mr. Yost. This includes areas that we did not identify at the 

 Southeast Conference and also it lumps together two areas, Upper 

 Hoonah Sound and the Lisianski area. 



Senator Wirth. Upper what? 



Mr. Yost. Upper Hoonah Sound. 



