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contracts benefit Southeast Alaska. We believe there is already 

 enough wilderness that has been set aside. We firmly believe in 

 multiple use of the forest and that it is unnecessary to expand 

 the reach of nonmultiple use areas which already comprise over 

 half of the Tongass Forest. 

 CONCLUSION 



In summary, the Tongass National Forest comprises 16.7 

 million acres. 5.7 million acres are considered "commercial" 

 forest land — or land suited biologically for- growing and . 

 harvesting timber in a continuous cycle. Wilderness designations 

 contain approximately 1.7 million acres of this commercial forest 

 land. 2.3 million acres of the commercial forest land are not 

 available for timber harvesting because they are prime recreation 

 areas, critical wildlife habitats, sensitve fisheries streams 

 etc. That leaves 1.7 million acres of coimnercial forest land as 

 the current timber base. Only about 1% of that 1.7 million acres 

 is scheduled for harvest in any given year. At the end of the 

 first 100 year rotation, the same acres will be ready for harvest 

 a second time. 



Alaska Women in Timber continues to support wise use 

 management of the timber resources of the Tongass. Wise use 

 forest management is crucial to community economic stability, to 

 providing a sound timber base, to assessing wilderness values 

 versus economic values and to the utilization of the forest for 

 the betterment of all — including people. 



April 25, 1989 



