[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 109 (Friday, June 30, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S9574]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



[[Page S9574]]


                         HOT AIR BAKING ALASKA

 Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask that the following article 
be printed in the Record.
  The article follows:

               [From the Washington Times, June 9, 1995]

                         Hot Air Baking Alaska

                           (By Alston Chase)

       Our helicopter swooped down on a black bear that was lazily 
     grazing lush grass beside a crystal clear mountain river. 
     Around him, I could see an intense green mosaic of meadows 
     and, beyond them, thick forests that stretched to the 
     skyline, where dark peaks loomed through the mist.
       I was flying over the Thorne River on Prince of Wales 
     Island in Southeast Alaska's Tongass National Forest--a 
     stream that in April the conservation group American Rivers, 
     claiming that ``extensive logging'' would harm ``potentially 
     threatened'' creatures, designated one of the country's 
     ``most endangered'' rivers.
       But environmentalists, I discovered, had things backward. 
     Prince of Wales, which has been extensively logged, is 
     thriving. By contrast, more than 96 percent of the Tongass 
     remains untouched, yet is dying.
       For more than a decade, various groups have insisted that 
     the Tongass, ``America's rain forest,'' is in deep trouble 
     due to unprincipled logging. I found that while this region 
     is indeed at risk, the culprit is conservationism. The 
     Thorne, in particular, is flourishing.
       Contrary to activist claims, the Forest Service manages it 
     as a ``Scenic and Recreational River'' and plans no logging 
     there, except in a tiny portion of one tributary. Where 
     harvests are under consideration, they would be prohibited 
     within a half-mile of any stream. And although 21 percent of 
     the drainage has already been logged--much of it long ago--
     pink salmon runs have risen from lows of 300 in the 1960s to 
     highs of 350,000 in the 1990s.
       This reveals what foresters know: that in this land which 
     annually receives 160 inches of rain and where trees grow 
     like weeds, logging can be nature's best friend. Properly 
     harvested, these forests could grow at the rate of 1.35 
     billion board feet a year. But left alone, they are dying. 
     Meanwhile, the lack of cutting ensures few recreational 
     opportunities are available for ordinary people. Dotted with 
     muskeg swamps, littered with deadfall and covered with a 
     solid curtain of densely packed trees, the land is nearly 
     impenetrable. Only the super-rich can afford the helicopters 
     needed to reach camping and fishing spots in its interior.
       That is what makes Prince of Wales different. Thanks to 
     logging, it is experiencing phenomenal tree growth and has a 
     wonderful road and trail network that puts the lakes and 
     streams within reach of hikers.
       Unfortunately, such accessibility displeases the scions of 
     Grosse Point and the Barons of the Beltway, whose largess and 
     appetite for power sustains the environmental movement. These 
     elite prefer to keep the Tongass so remote its choice spots 
     can only be reached by qualified governmental authorities or 
     refined persons such as themselves, who have access to, or 
     can afford, guides and helicopters. So to make their 
     playground safe from democracy, they successfully lobbied and 
     litigated to reduce harvest plans until, today, cutting 
     approaches zero.
       Of the Tongass' 17 million acres, 10 million are forested, 
     and of that 5.7 million are accessible for ``commercial'' 
     forestry. In 1980, federal legislation set aside around 1.6 
     million of this as wilderness. After the 1990 Tongass Timber 
     Reform Act and other conservation measures, only 1.71 million 
     was left for logging. And 400,000 of that was second-growth 
     that could not be ready to cut for 40 years. Now, the Clinton 
     administration has invoked the Endangered Species Act to 
     create Habitat Conservation Areas totaling 600,000 acres of 
     the remainder for ``potentially endangered species.''
       Thus, of the Tongass' 17 million acres, 600,000 is actually 
     available for logging. In a forest that grows more than a 
     billion board feet annually, loggers last year cut a mere 276 
     million. And as harvests plummet, mills close and 
     unemployment rises. In 1989, the pulp mill in Sitka ran out 
     of logs and closed its doors, and last winter, the saw mill 
     in Wrangell went belly up for the same reason. And while 
     Alaska's congressmen promise to open the forest, the citizens 
     of this region are not optimistic. They have heard that kind 
     of talk before.
       Citizens of the Tongass are victims of phoney science that 
     supposes mythical ``ecosystem health'' is more important than 
     people; of preservation laws that provide lush grazing for 
     activist attorneys; of shark pack activists who ride 
     piggyback on each others' media campaigns, repeating half-
     truths until the public believes them; of federal subsides to 
     groups who sue ``to protect the environment;'' of public 
     ignorance and activist propaganda; of media arrogance and 
     government's inexorable urge to grow.
       They wonder when America will learn the truth: that without 
     logging, trees die and people suffer. Without logging, the 
     Tongass will remain an exclusive preserve of the affluent or 
     anointed, who don't deserve it.
       They know this is a national outrage. But they wonder: Does 
     anyone in Washington care?
     

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