03/21/1995 08:08 AM House STA

 HSTA - 03/21/95                                                               
 Number 596                                                                    
                                                                               
 REPRESENTATIVE ROBINSON expressed that she did not know Mr. Boutin            
 was involved in HB 121, which related to the salvage sales, but she           
 heard people say it was that part of the forest they wanted to get            
 their hands on.  She was curious about how the two bills meshed               
 together, and if HB 121 would assist them.  She wondered also if it           
 would help smaller operations.                                                
                                                                               
 MR. BOUTIN said how they mesh together is in exempting salvage                
 sales from the five-year harvest schedule.  HB 121 does that, and             
 it requires a written finding, which makes it superior to HB 212,             
 in his opinion.  According to the testimony they heard, people on             
 the Kenai have businesses with one and two employees and they have            
 problems getting logs when there is more wood moving on the Kenai             
 than ever before.  The Division of Forestry and the University                
 together sold 25 million board feet in 1995.  That is enough wood             
 for the Seward mill for a year.  Dollars talk, he said, so if                 
 anybody has the money to pay, the wood is there.  One thing the               
 public process does, because of the forest land use plan, is that             
 it forces larger sales than we might otherwise have.  It makes                
 smaller sales less cost effective.