S. Hrg. 101-30, Pt. 3 TONGASS NATIONAL FOREST HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON PUBLIC LANDS, NATIONAL PARKS AND FORESTS OF THE COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED FIRST CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON H.R. 987 *&< TO AMEND THE ALASKA NATIONAL INTEREST LANDS CONSERVATION ACT, TO DESIGNATE CERTAIN LANDS IN THE TONGASS NATIONAL FOREST AS WILDERNESS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES FEBRUARY 26, 1990 ,*ly, Kposrretr PART 3 mm uwrSwWP Printed for the use of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Boston P«*5!!c y^rary Boston, MA 116 S. Hrg. 101-30, Pr. 3 TONGASS NATIONAL FOREST HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON PUBLIC LANDS, NATIONAL PAEKS AND FORESTS OF THE COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED FIRST CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON H.R. 987 TO AMEND THE ALASKA NATIONAL INTEREST LANDS CONSERVATION ACT, TO DESIGNATE CERTAIN LANDS IN THE TONGASS NATIONAL FOREST AS WILDERNESS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES FEBRUARY 26, 1990 PART 3 Printed for the use of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 29-591 WASHINGTON : 1990 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office U.S. Government Printing Office. Washington, DC 20402 COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES J. BENNETT JOHNSTON, Louisiana, Chairman DALE BUMPERS, Arkansas JAMES A. McCLURE, Idaho WENDELL H. FORD, Kentucky MARK O. HATFIELD, Oregon HOWARD M. METZENBAUM, Ohio PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico BILL BRADLEY, New Jersey MALCOLM WALLOP, Wyoming JEFF BINGAMAN, New Mexico FRANK H. MURKOWSKI, Alaska TIMOTHY E. WIRTH, Colorado DON NICKLES, Oklahoma KENT CONRAD, North Dakota CONRAD BURNS, Montana HOWELL T. HEFLIN, Alabama JAKE GARN, Utah JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER TV, West Virginia MITCH McCONNELL, Kentucky Daryl Owen, Staff Director D. Michael Harvey, Chief Counsel Frank M. Cushing, Staff Director for the Minority Gary G. Ellsworth, Chief Counsel for the Minority Subcommittee on Public Lands, National Parks and Forests DALE BUMPERS, Arkansas, Chairman TIMOTHY E. WIRTH, Colorado, Vice Chairman BILL BRADLEY, New Jersey MALCOLM WALLOP, Wyoming JEFF BINGAMAN, New Mexico MARK O. HATFIELD, Oregon KENT CONRAD, North Dakota CONRAD BURNS, Montana JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER TV, West Virginia JAKE GARN, Utah PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico J. Bennett Johnston and James A. McClure are Ex Officio Members of the Subcommittee Thomas B. Williams, Senior Professional Staff Member Elizabeth J. Norcross, Professional Staff Member J. David Brooks, Counsel Jim O'Toole, Professional Staff Member (Minority) (II) CONTENTS Page H.R. 987 3 STATEMENTS Brooks, Dr. James W., Deputy Director, Alaska Region, National Marine Fisheries Service, Department of Commerce, accompanied by Dr. K. Koski... 66 Finney, Don, general manager, Alaska Loggers Association 190 Griffin, Richard M., on behalf of the Southeast Conference 117 Johnston, Hon. J. Bennett, U.S. Senator from Louisiana 1 Kearney, Patricia, Acting Assistant Secretary for Natural Resources, Depart- ment of Agriculture, accompanied by George Leonard and Mike Barton 54 Leonard, George M., Associate Chief, Forest Service, Department of Agricul- ture 55 Lindh, Craig, project analyst, office of the Governor, State of Alaska, accom- panied by Dr. David Anderson 104 McClure, Hon. James A., U.S. Senator from Idaho 82 Metcalf, K.J., vice president, Southeast Alaska Conservation Council 118 Murkowski, Hon. Frank H., U.S. Senator from Alaska 18 Stevens, Hon. Ted, U.S. Senator from Alaska 18 Troll, Kathryn, executive director, Southeast Alaska Seiners Association 225 Wallop, Hon. Malcolm, U.S. Senator from Wyoming 77 Wilson, Joseph G., president, Goldbelt, Inc., accompanied by Josephine Arm- strong 276 APPENDIXES Appendix I Responses to additional questions 321 Appendix II Additional material submitted for the record 371 (in) TONGASS NATIONAL FOREST MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1990 U.S. Senate, Subcommittee on Public Lands, National Parks and Forests, Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2 p.m. in room SD- 366, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. J. Bennett Johnston, chairman, presiding. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. J. BENNETT JOHNSTON, U.S. SENATOR FROM LOUISIANA The Chairman. The hearing will come to order. In 1980 the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, or ANILCA, was enacted. As Congress designated 5.6 million acres of the Tongass National Forest as wilderness, it also determined that the Tongass National Forest would be managed under a number of special provisions which set it apart from other national forests. In addition to the two long-term contracts already in place at the time of ANILCA's passage, Congress guaranteed a decadal harvest level of 4.5 billion board-feet on the Tongass, mandated a direct ap- propriation of at least $40 million, and allowed the Tongass an ex- emption from the timber suitability analysis required by the Na- tional Forest Management Act. Over the last few years many in and out of Congress have taken a hard look at those decisions we made almost ten years ago and ask a basic question: Have the assurances we made in 1980 unduly biased the management of the Tongass in favor of timber produc- tion at the expense of other values? Or are these provisions appro- priate compensation for the large wilderness set-asides of 1980? In this Congress alone, three measures have been introduced, each of which takes a different approach to responding to that question. Today we intend to focus on two provisions of one of those meas- ures, H.R. 987, the House-passed Tongass reform legislation, which has not been directly addressed at previous subcommittee hearings. Specifically, we will take testimony on those portions of H.R. 987 relating to fisheries protection and buffer zones and those provi- sions relating to the designation of additional wilderness areas in the Tongass National Forest. It is my sincere hope that this will be the last of our hearings regarding the Tongass National Forest and that we can move quickly to resolve this issue. Over the last couple of years, I have spoken with a wide variety of Southeast Alaskans concerning the (1) Tongass, including timber company representatives, environmen- talists, mill workers, and many, many others. While these individuals might propose dramatically different so- lutions to the Tongass issue, they almost all agree that what is needed most in Southeast Alaska is certainty. With that in mind, I am committed to a speedy markup and floor action for Tongass legislation, in hopes of getting to conference with the House and resolving these issues once and for all. I would like to welcome all of the witnesses who will appear before us today, particularly those who have made the long trip from Alaska. I look forward to your testimony and, as staff I am sure has asked each of you, we would like to hold the testimony to five minutes, summarizing your written statement. Your written statement will of course be put in the record. And with that, we should have time for questions. I want to urge you all to respect the 5-minute limit. At this time I will place a copy of H.R. 987 in the hearing record. [The text of H.R. 987 follows:] II 101st CONGRESS WJ Q f\Q*7 1st Session Jri t\« i/O / IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES July 17 (legislative day, January 3), 1989 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources AN ACT To amend the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, to designate certain lands in the Tongass National Forest as wilderness, and for other purposes. 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND DEFINITION. 4 (a) Short Title. —This Act may be cited as the 5 "Tongass Timber Reform Act". 6 (b) Definition. —As used in this Act, the term "the 7 Act" means the Alaska National Interest Lands Conserva- 8 tion Act (Public Law 96-487). 2 i TITLE I—ALASKA NATIONAL IN- 2 TEREST LANDS CONSERVA- 3 TION ACT AMENDMENTS 4 SEC. 101. TO REQUIRE ANNUAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR 5 TIMBER MANAGEMENT AND RESOURCE CON- 6 SERVATION ON THE TONGASS NATIONAL 7 FOREST. 8 (a) Section 705(a) of the Act (16 U.S.C. 539d(a)) is re- 9 pealed effective October 1, 1989. 10 SEC. 102. IDENTIFICATION OF LANDS UNSUITABLE FOR 1 1 TIMBER PRODUCTION. 12 Section 705(d) of the Act (16 U.S.C. 539d(d)) is hereby 13 repealed. 14 SEC. 103. FUTURE REPORTS ON THE TONGASS NATIONAL 15 FOREST. 16 (a) Monitoring.—Section 706(a) of the Act (16 U.S.C. 17 539e(a)) is amended— 18 (1) by striking "the Committee on Interior and 19 Insular Affairs" and inserting "the Committee on Ag- 20 riculture and the Committee on Interior and Insular 21 Affairs"; and 22 (2) by striking the second sentence and inserting 23 the following new sentence: "This report shall include 24 a complete analysis of the losses or gains sustained by 25 the United States Government with respect to long- 3 1 term, short-term and total sales of timber from the 2 Tongass National Forest using information from the 3 statement on revenues and expenses of the Timber 4 Sale Program Information Reporting System and shall 5 display total costs, unit costs (per thousand board feet 6 of timber sold or released) and associated revenues, for 7 the current and previous two years of operations.". 8 (b) Status.—Section 706(b) of the Act (16 U.S.C. 9 539e(b)) is amended as follows: 10 (1) Strike out "and (4)" and insert in lieu thereof 11 "(4)". 12 (2) Strike the period at the end of the section and 13 insert ", (5) the impact of timber management on sub- 14 sistence resources, wildlife, and fisheries habitats, and 15 (6) the steps taken by the Secretary of Agriculture 16 under section 401(c) of the Tongass Timber Reform 17 Act.".