510 



In summary, the Territorial Sportsmen wish to point out that 

 clearcut logging in Southeast Alaska is permanently converting 

 high-volume, old-growth forest with high wildlife values to second 

 growth of much less value to wildlife. Long-term effects of logging 

 on fish habitat and populations are unknown. Present planning 

 and management processes have not given adequate consideration 

 to values other than timber harvesting. 



We believe the public, lawmakers and forest managers should be 

 fully aware of tradeoffs associated with present management prac- 

 tices on the Tongass National Forest. The question is not whether 

 logging should occur, but whether it should be concentrated in the 

 limited higher volume old growth stands at the expense of other 

 forest values, whether the mandated cutting levels can be sus- 

 tained and whether the existing planning systems and Federal sub- 

 sidies are being utilized so as to minimize the adverse effects to 

 other equally important forest values. 



Thank you for the opportunity to express our views. 



[Report submitted by Mr. Tonkin was retained in subcommittee 

 files.] 



Senator Wirth. Thank you very much, Mr. Tonkin. It was very 

 good testimony. I must say that you were reflecting what I have 

 heard elsewhere, that the Alaska Department of Fish and Game 

 has been stepping out smartly in a lot of this recently, and I am 

 sure we all appreciate that. Thank you very much. 



Now, Mr. Ward. 



STATEMENT OF ROBERT W. WARD, JR., SITKA CONVENTION 



BUREAU 



Mr. Ward. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and the Committee. My 

 name is Bob Ward, and I am the Executive Director of the Sitka 

 Convention and Visitors Bureau. 



Visitors to Alaska experience the Tongass from a wide variety of 

 conveyances: by kayak or cruise ship, airplane or automobile, back- 

 pack or bicycle. Each mode is an indicator of the demographic vari- 

 ety of Alaska visitors, as well as the variety of expectation of expe- 

 rience that each might hold for the Tongass. 



Those who have been claiming to represent the Alaska visitor in- 

 dustry before Congress in fact speak only for that sector of the in- 

 dustry which caters to those Tongass visitors who experience the 

 region by kayak, canoe or back country trekking. Their expectation 

 of a Tongass experience is indeed one as pristine and untouched as 

 only Alaskan wilderness can provide. They tend to be younger than 

 the bulk of Southeast visitors, and their image of a frontier is lim- 

 ited strictly to the element of nature untainted by the presence of 

 man. 



However, the vast majority of Southeast Alaska visitors are over 

 55 years old, have monitored the growth of the last frontier over 

 the decades, and share the broader understanding of the two ele- 

 ments of any frontier, which are wilderness and opportunity. The 

 fact that Alaska is a raw and rugged land is, naturally, an attrac- 

 tion for them. For them it is also an attraction that Alaskans are 

 able to scratch out an existence in this raw and rugged land. A 

 Tongass without thriving communities and industries would be no 



