449 

 Senator Wirth. Ernestine Hanlon. 



STATEMENT OF ERNESTINE HANLON, TLINGIT OF HOONAH, AK 



Ms. Hanlon. My name is Ka Sy Yah Gah and my English name 

 is Ernestine Hanlon. I am Tlingit from Hoonah. From time memo- 

 rial, my dad's family is from around Hoonah and my mom's family 

 is from Killisnoo. I am from the Dogsalmon clan, of the Raven 

 moiety. 



I weave Tlingit spruce root baskets and Chilkat robes. The bas- 

 kets are woven from the Sitka spruce roots and dyed grass. This 

 form of weaving is centuries old: after the world flood receded or as 

 long as the trees have been with us. 



Tlingit artwork is recognized as high-quality pieces of work. Be- 

 cause of the richness of the land, we were not in search of food. We 

 had the time to figure out how to weave a perfect circle in our 

 Chilkat robes or carve a detailed totem pole depicting our family 

 crest. We continue to produce beautiful baskets because, according 

 to our "law of the land, 'we still have our trees. Each basket very, 

 very old, and not so old, in our designs. All show a deep respect 

 and appreciation of this land. A person can feel this through the 

 generations as we come to the land to harvest materials for our 

 baskets, Chilkat robes or other art work, as we gather our food and 

 medicine. 



Hoonah is surrounded by Tongass National Forest, a village that 

 is predominately native. Fishing and hunting have always been the 

 major way of life. The state of the land was such we were never 

 hungry or cold. 



More than any other place in Southeast Alaska, as a village, we 

 feel the effect of logging and road building. We feel the impacts 

 now and see irreparable damage to the land, should we allow the 

 Forest Service to continue management as is. Murkowski's bill 

 would not allow other protections that we need to guarantee sur- 

 vival of this land and our culture. It would only allow more mis- 

 management. 



Thank you, Senator Wirth, for introducing S. 346. We need to see 

 the end to the 4.5 cuts. We are living in enough destruction. The 

 $40 million subsidy drives this destruction, mostly to needless 

 roads, another negative impact to our way of life. We need to end 

 the 50-year contracts and replace them with a short-term, competi- 

 tive bids to show the American spirit of free enterprise. To 

 strengthen Wirth's bill, we would like to see permanent protection 

 to the 23 areas. Seven of these areas are very crucial to Hoonah, 

 Pleasant Island-Lemesurier Islands and Port Adolphus are very 

 crucial habitat for the deer and other wonderous wildlife. Port 

 Althrop, Idaho Inlet, Mrd Bay, Lisianski River are such crucial fish 

 habitats our fishermen can hardly believe our government wants to 

 destroy it. 



Our fishing industry includes five types of crabbing, shrimping, 

 halibut, cod, snapper, herring. King Salmon, Dog Salmon, humpy, 

 Coho and Sockeye Salmon. Historically, we have the expertise of 

 fish by knowing the seasons of the runs, using different types of 

 gear to catch the fish, knowing the winds and tides, also of smok- 

 ing and storing of the fish. As "Subsistence Users of Hoonah Want 



