634 



P.S. I hope you stay in Sitka long enough to look around our 

 beautiful city. From our house, which is near the base of Gavin 

 Hill, I look out my dining room window at Harbor Mountain, right now 

 snow topped. From my bedroom windows I see the Sisters, Arrowhead 

 and Verstovia mountains, and from the front of the house we see Mt . 

 Edgecumbe out on the water. Where else in the world could one be 

 placed in the center of such panorama? 



But as I look at Gavin Hill, which was logged many years ago 

 by the Russians, I see signs of death. Scattered throughout the 

 living trees are many dying, or dead, snags. Trees are living, 

 breathing objects. They have a life span just like people, a bit 

 longer but they cannot live forevc. Once they die they are of no 

 use to anyone. They are not good timber for logging--yes , they 

 could be used for firewood but single trees are usually inaccessible 

 to the firewood cutter, so they stand as dead snags until rot allows 

 them to fall over. 



In contrast, take a trip out to Katlian Bay. This was logged 

 over a few years ago. Mao^ were counting on the miles of logging 

 roads built for that operation to give them access to hunting, 

 fishing, or hiking thru the Katlian Valley. I have not been out 

 there for several years but I am told that not only have the trees 

 grown up in the logging area, which is obvious from the water, but 

 the roads are gone. In many places the trees have already grown so 

 that you can not even recognize where the roads used to be. These 

 are living, breathing trees, using up carbon dioxide and releasing 

 oxygen at a much faster rate than old trees and certainly more than 

 the snags. 



I am enclosing a copy of a letter that was in our local paper by 

 someone that can explain it better than I. No, I am not advocating 

 that we go right out and log Gavin Hill but sensible use of the 

 forest is certainly important. 



Greenhouse Effect 





Dear Editor: Lately (here has been a 

 lot of talk about the "greenhouse 

 effect" and how it relates to timber 

 harvest The Honorable Sen. Wirth has 

 introduced anti-timber harvest Tongass 

 legislation recently stating that preven- 

 tion of the greenhouse effect is one of 

 the primary reasons. Environmental 

 groups arc promoting this idea so that 

 it can be used as another tool to halt 

 timber harvest, both on the Tongass 

 and elsewhere. It seems that the Sena- 

 tor as well as a lot of other people have 

 gone for this story wholeheartedly 

 without bothering to do any research. . . 

 By talking to any silviculturist, hor- i 

 ticulturalist, or olJier knowledgeable 

 person you can get the real facts. 

 Young growth is mwe vigorous than 

 old growth, especially a decadent 

 forest with a declining growth curve 

 such as the Tongass. So when parts of 

 the Tongass are harvested the ensuing 

 second growth uses substantially more 

 carbon dioxide, as well as releasing 

 substantially more oxygen into the air 

 we breath than the old growth it 

 replaced. Look at any harvest area and 

 you will sec a very impressive patch of 



second growth that often averages over 

 10,000 stems per acre (before thin- 

 ning) with a growth rate of over one 

 foot per year. 



I think people should realize that we 

 do not use slash and bum technology 

 on the Tongass. The awful pictures we 

 are shown of dead soil where rain 

 forest once stood are real, but the 

 problem is occurring in largely under- 

 developed countries with a large farm- 

 ing population, NOT on the .Tongass. 

 Farming is what costs the^soil the 

 nutrients it needs to regrow a forest, 

 not timber harvesting. 



Timber harvest on the Tongass is 

 highly regulated where environmental 

 impacts are concerned. Add to this the 

 industry's very good environmental 

 record and the fact that only 10 percent 

 of the Tongass is slated for logging, 

 EVER, and I don't see how anyone 

 could come to the conclusion that 

 timber harvesting on the Tongass will 

 hasten the arrival of the global warm- 

 ing problem or lead to the moonscape 

 that some groups refer to.  ■' ' 



Roger M. Ziesak 

 Ketchikan 



