George Miller: “the Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska is one of the jewels of the American forest system. It is America's only…”

“the Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska is one of the jewels of the American forest system. It is America's only temperate rain forest that is intact, that can be protected and that can be preserved. It is also the subject of a rider on the appropriations bill to do great damage to the Tongass, contrary to the law that was passed a couple of years ago to reform the forest practices on this forest. The gentleman from Louisiana [Mr. Livingston], the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, has asserted that the provision that is now in that legislation in fact is a decrease in the number of board feet eligible for cutting from 450 million board feet to 418 million board feet. The fact of the matter is that that is not accurate. The Tongass Reform Act of 1990 eliminated the 450 million board feet mandate for these lands and protected over 1 million acres from the forests for logging, reducing the amount of old growth timber that is eligible for harvesting by 51 million feet annually. The number of board feet eligible for cutting is currently 399 million board feet. The rider would increase that by 19 million, to 418, which is over 100 million board feet above the average cut in the last decade. The fact of the matter is that the rider is very detrimental to the future of the Tongass forest.”