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TESTIMONY ON TONGASS TIMBER REFORM ACT 

 by Wayne Pattlson 



I am Wayne L. Pattlson, a graduate Forest Engineer with twelve years 

 experience In the forest management of the Tongass National Forest and another 

 eight years as a small business owner in Sitka, Alaska. I have seen the past 

 effects of Congressional meddling in what should be the professional 

 management of our natural resources and I am not impressed. 



I support Senator Murkowski's Bill #237 and adamantly oppose Senator 

 Wirth's Bill #346 because of the following rational. This controversy is not 

 just a debate between prodevelopment and antigrowth forces. For the record 

 the definition of a "Conservationist" is: 



"A person who advocates the conservation and appropriate use of 

 natural resources — the official care and protection of natural 

 resources from loss, waste, etc." 

 The definition of an "Environmentalist" is: 



"A person working to solve environmental problems, such as air 

 and water pollution, the exhaustion of natural resources, uncontrolled 



population growth, etc." 

 The definition of a "Preservationist" is: 



"A person seeking to preserve or protect and save from normal use 

 an area as a special domain of same person or group of persons." 



I am proud to consider myself a "Conservationist" and firmly believe that 

 most U.S. Forest Service professionals would also fit this definition. 



We have some good Sitka citizens who qualify as "Environmentalists" and 

 there are even some of our U.S. Forest Service friends who could probably fit 



