Lisa Murkowski

It's a very important bill to me. It's a very important bill to so many Alaskans.

If this legislation can't go through truly those timber jobs are no longer there to make this transition.

I appreciate your recognition of the importance of this bill and the fact that the Forest Service does support the principle objective as I have outlined in my statement.

We think that it is long enough.

Again, to both of you, all of you within your respective agencies, thank you for your efforts in helping us on the Sealaska Lands Provision bill.

I think we recognize that 40 years is a long time to wait for conveyances.

Particularly the department wants to recognize Sen. Murkowski and her staff, for their willingness to work in good faith toward agreements wherever possible.

I think these changes have vastly improved the bill from the 2008 original.

I do hope that we can reach a compromise on this outstanding issue that we can all live with.

I think that we're close to working out the final few points of contention.

This is yet another attempt to try to right a wrong that I really think we should have been able to resolve some time ago.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and to our ranking member, thank you for the hearing today.

Thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony.

I have questioned that at a time where budgets are very, very tight, we would be purchasing more land when we're not able to adequately care for, maintain, provide the resources for what it is that we have.

When you live in a place like Ketchikan that is on the water, you've got a lot of floatplanes.

If the State of Alaska and Alabama and Wyoming refuse to pay, as the Governor's letter certainly suggests, I mean, what do you do?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just very briefly.

I worry that we don't have our operators who are able to hold on until we can transition to that second growth.

I don't think is a good option either. So again, we need to figure out how, you need to figure out, working with us, how we deal with this.

I think that oversight role is important. And I worry that we might lose some aspect of that oversight with this expansion that we're talking about.

I would certainly hope that at a bare minimum there is no effort to collect late fees and penalties.

It just doesn't work.

I want to be clear. I do support the agency's many programs that deal with recreation and with wildlife.

I think that this decision by the agency represents the latest in a long line of misguided Forest Service actions that have had a crippling impact on Southeast Alaska.

I think sometimes the script changes a little bit.