Deep concerns about the future of the forest products industry..

My name is Elizabeth West and I am the Director of Communications for the Alaska Forest Association based here in Ketchikan. I have deep concerns about the future of the forest products industry in Southeast Alaska. And there is something wrong with this system when the largest National Forest in the United States cannot support all resources and uses.

What we are dealing with here is political science, not environmental science. With over 12 million acres of trees and 5.4 million acres in permanent wilderness, parks and monuments, and another 3.7 million acres in roadless conditions, stream and beach buffers, there should be plenty of "old growth reserves," "habitat conservation areas" and other suedo-scientific set-asides to do all the research, protection and communing anyone would want.

There is no evidence that wildlife or fish populations are in any danger across the Tongass. It appears that there is a desire to artificially induce a homogeneous population in every corner of the Tongass. This is neither sound nor historically accurate. Wildlife and fish populations have always fluctuated. And in the case of the goshawk, we are the northern extreme of their range. We should not expect to see these species on a continual, year-round basis. The indigenous species are so abundant that hunters and fishermen are allowed multiple permits every year.

Before we start locking up productive commercial forests for the sake of fish and wildlife, lets reduce the sports take to permit these viable populations. And indeed, we have experienced record salmon runs, herring catches, and deer hunting in the last decade.

Now don't get me wrong. I believe that fish and wildlife deserves their place in the forest. But what about the people? We belong here too. More studies and analysis have been done on every other aspect, for every other consideration of TLMP then for the people and communities.

Wasn't anything learned when Alaska Pulp was forced to close its facilities in Sitka and Wrangell. People lost jobs, people lost homes, people had to move away, people lost! And now, where are the studies that show it won't happen again? Where is the analysis that this TLMP won't cause Thorne Bay or Naukati or Klawock won't go the way of Wrangell? And what about Ketchikan? If the KPC goes the way of APC, how many of us will have to move and to where? This is the last frontier.

I still believe there is enough for everyone. But you can't get every use out of every place. We need and have wilderness areas. We need and have roadless areas We need and have areas just for wildlife habitat. We need and have healthy fish rearing streams. And there needs to be areas for people.

People need places to work. People need places to play. And people need places to live. There already is wilderness set-asides, roadless set-asides, wildlife and fish stream set-asides. And there are places "set-aside," if you will, for people to live. But there seems to be an aversion to "set-asides" for people to work. The forest products industry really isn't asking for that much. 10% of the Tongass is so small. 19% of the forest is reasonable. That is the 1.7 million acres that is currently available for timber harvest.

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