Roadless Rule
Dear Editor: We are guides living in Sitka and working for Allen Marine. One of us was born and raised here, and grew up hunting and fishing in the Tongass National Forest.
In the summer, we bear witness to the importance of the Tongass National Forest for Southeast Alaska. We take thousands of tourists out to the bays, islands, and inlets that buffer the forest. We show them the jumping salmon sustained by the Tongass, the deer and bear who meander along the shores. Visitors to the Tongass are constantly in awe of the intact old growth, the towering Sitka Spruce, Western Hemlock, and Yellow Cedar.
Recently, Lisa Murkowski spoke out in favor of exempting the Tongass National Forest from the National Roadless Rule. This is a terrible idea. The Roadless Rule prohibits clearcutting logging on specific areas of the Tongass. But while the Roadless Rule prevents unsustainable timber harvest, it doesn’t inhibit our ability to access the land or our ability to harvest timber on a small scale. (Jack grew up hunting deer and harvesting firewood to make money.)
It’s imperative that we keep the Tongass healthy and intact. As Southeast Alaskans, we depend on the Tongass to sustain our way of life, but it also supports innumerable jobs like ours through the tourist industry. Senator Murkowski and the Forest Service need to understand that tourists don’t visit the Tongass to see clearcuts. We urge Lisa Murkowski to listen to her constituents and support more sustainable management of the forest that we all rely on.
Emily McGuirt, Jack Weaver, Sitka
Arts Council Funding
Dear Editor: I’d like to correct a figure which I’ve seen twice in the paper concerning the budget for the Alaska State Council on the Arts. The State of Alaska contributes a little over $700,000 to partially fund the Council. This is the state’s only monetary contribution. The state then takes back about $91,000 from the $700,000 for ‘‘administrative fees.’’ So, the real contribution of the state is a little more than $600,000.
The Arts Council receives a matching grant from the National Endowment of the Arts, the federal arts agency. This amount matches the state contribution. The Council also receives funding from various private foundations. Together, these funds equal about $3.5 million. But, let me reiterate, the state contributes only $700,000 to the Alaska State Arts Council.
Failing to fund the Council would have resulted in a loss of substantive amounts of outside money (approximately $2 million) entering the Alaska economy.
It’s important to understand that what the Arts Council brings into the state to fund its own operation is substantially more than the state’s contribution.
Thank you.
Norman Campbell, Sitka
