426 



I think it is important, as we look at some of the things that 

 come out of this hearing today — you know, we talked about the 4.5 

 and then we discovered that for the last 10 years it has been 3.7. 

 That is fairly important to reflect on despite the things that the 

 Forest Service occasionally tells us, 50-year contracts are realistic, 

 but they have 15 or 20 years to run. I believe as well that the Li- 

 sianski River ought to be protected, and I will work toward that 

 end. I plan to fly over the 12 or 13 areas later on this summer 

 during a recess, and I know some of them, some of them I am fa- 

 miliar with. I have fished the Karta River. I know Berners Bay 

 area. I have been in the Yakutat area but not for the specific pur- 

 pose expressed in the concerns of those from Yakutat. I think that 

 is the best way to reflect all the needs of these people and the ex- 

 pression of what should or should not be, because I think, very 

 frankly, we will get the input from those in the environmental 

 community, as those interests are evident, to add as much as possi- 

 ble to the area. 



That is fine, but somebody has to make a decision. It is very diffi- 

 cult to make those decisions, Mr. Chairman. I have just been sit- 

 ting down with a group. It is important to get the input of a group 

 that collectively knows decisions have to be made as a consequence 

 of compromise and, of course, that is the entire process that ap- 

 pears here and what is occurring in this forum today. 



Finally, I do not want to extend the conversation necessarily to 

 Ms. George from Angoon, but I think it is appropriate that the 

 record should reflect, and I intend to bring this up in a little more 

 detail with witnesses that are forthcoming in the panel from Shee 

 Atika, because we all know Angoon, with the permission of the 

 Federal Government, received a land swap with an opportunity to 

 cut timber on Admiralty and wisely they chose a land exchange. 

 And they took their position down on Prince of Wales Island. That 

 is where they cut timber today and generate revenues for their 

 very dramatic economy that they have developed, and some other 

 jobs as well. Yet, and I worked very, very hard, to propose an ex- 

 change to get Shee Atika, which is the Sitka native corporation, 

 Mr. Chairman, to receive by an act of Congress 22 or 23 million 

 acres on Admiralty Island to take as their settlement. We worked 

 very hard trying to encourage an exchange with the extreme envi- 

 ronmental group to support and identify and exchange so that 

 there would be no logging on Admiralty Island. Unfortunately, we 

 could not get the support from the environmental community. I 

 think the extreme environmental community has failed in its re- 

 sponsibility, because today logging occurs on Admiralty Island in 

 Kuna Cove. 



That was a tragic mistake. We had an opportunity to do a land 

 exchange, and Ms. George knows they have been logging Admiralty 

 Island since 1900 in small amounts, but up until then, there had 

 not been any logging in Kuna Cove. It was an ideal opportunity to 

 make an exchange similar to what Kootznoowoo was able to do in 

 moving down to Prince of Wales. Unfortunately, that did not come 

 about. All of the environmental representatives throughout the 

 United States came up to Alaska and flew over Admiralty. That is 

 all they did. They would not even consider the merits of that ex- 

 change. 



