Kootznoowoo finds no fault with the way the BLM is handling our conveyance. The ANCSA division has been helpful and the Forest Service worked closely with us as we made our final sections.

Our concern here is with the reimbursement provision in section 506. Congress directed that $2 million would be appropriated to pay legal and consulting fees that our corporation and two others incurred in making our land selections off of Admiralty Island. We understand that the process is moving along and many of our questions will be answered tomorrow. We would like to offer our support and assistance to see that the reimbursement can be paid quickly.

Thank you again for the opportunity to testify.

Mr. SEIBERLING. Thank you very much.

Mr. Young?

Mr. YOUNG. I want to thank you for your testimony. I know that you both spoke to me yesterday on the $2 million. I believe there is $1.5 million left. Did you get the $500,000? Was it distributed? Mr. BOLIMA. Nothing was distributed.

Mr. YOUNG. We have to appropriate the $2 million, and the chairman, I think, and I are in agreement if we can't get it through the House Appropriations Committee-the administration has asked for $1.5 million.

Mr. BOLIMA. I think the $500,000 has been appropriated and the $1.5 million will bring it up to the $2 million. The process is a long one. First we sent all of our material to them, a summary of it, and then a couple months later, or longer than that, we had the Interior audit people come in and audit our books and everything. It took them about a month.

That goes before an audit review committee, and in the meantime the legislative process is going on and it goes through OMB, and it has to get in the budget. At some time we will have to negotiate the differences that were with the way the Interior interprets our expenditures and we interpret them, but I don't see a lot of problem in that. It is just a long process.

Mr. YOUNG. All I can say is don't get yourself in the box of having negotiated it all way because I know the amount of money that they all put into this program. Although there may have been a difference of opinion there were still legal fees in the program and we recognize that in the committee and we want to make sure that everybody gets their just dues. I don't want to see a lot of lawyers running around in new Cadillacs, either, because I want to know that you can pay your bills which you have been obligated to do.

The sooner we get these things behind us the better we will be, the State and the Nation as a whole.

Mr. SEIBERLING. I agree with the gentleman.

Mr. BOLIMA. We are not trying to place blame on anyone. In some cases we have delayed the process little. There is some urgency to getting this money, and I think Shee Atika and Goldbelt will agree. I think the process is just unwieldy. Mr. SEIBERLING. Thank you.

As a matter of fact Shee Atika asked to be involved and they were invited, and they then decided they would prefer to appear at

some other date. The Cook Inlet Region Corp. will appear at another date. There are two other village or regional corporations that want to testify, but were not able to, today.

I will certainly work with Mr. Young to see that not only Kootznoowoo but all the others get what they are entitled to. I think it has been outrageous, the delays that have taken place in the land. transfers and other areas.

Mr. YOUNG. Along those lines, is the record open for additional comments?

Mr. SEIBERLING. Yes; we agreed to keep the record open for other Native corporations.

Thank you. It has been a long day. I do appreciate the testimony of everybody here. I think it has been very informative, and I think it will give us a better hearing tomorrow when we have the representatives of the administration present.

We will now recess until 9:45 tomorrow.

[Whereupon, at 5:21 p.m., the subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene at 9:45 a.m., Friday, April 30, 1982.]

PUBLIC LAND MANAGEMENT POLICY

Oversight on Implementation of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (Public Law 96-487)

FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 1982

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON PUBLIC LANDS AND NATIONAL PARKS,

COMMITTEE ON INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIRS,

Washington, D.C.

The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 9:45 a.m., in room 1324, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. John F. Seiberling (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.

Mr. SEIBERLING. The Subcommittee on Public Lands and National Parks will please come to order.

This morning we are resuming our oversight hearings on the implementation of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation

Act.

Yesterday we heard from a variety of public witnesses with concerns about this subject. Today we will hear from the two Departments with primary responsibility for implementation of the act, namely, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior.

On March 24, when our planning for these hearings got underway, I wrote to Secretary Block and Secretary Watt, requesting the appearances of witnesses. In each case the request was for testimony from the Secretary or his representative, and also from those agencies with direct responsibilities for implementation of the act. I am happy to be able to inform members of the subcommittee that, as usual, we have encountered no difficulty in working with the Department of Agriculture to prepare for these hearings. And, as requested, Secretary Block has made available this morning, both Assistant Secretary Crowell and Chief Max Peterson, along with John Sandor, the Regional Forester for Alaska.

We appreciate this cooperation very much and we welcome their appearance this morning.

Due to some circumstances which I will not go into, all of the people we originally requested from the Interior Department were not on our initial list of witnesses that was sent to us by the Department.

However, I talked to Secretary Watt yesterday and expressed my regret that we had not received that kind of cooperation, and he assured me that he would do everything he could to see that we got people representing the various agencies here.

In order to accommodate him, because of the short notice, we have not scheduled them to appear until 11:30. Hopefully, we will be finished with the Agriculture Department witnesses at about that time.

However, I would ask that somebody remain from the Agriculture Department during the testimony of the Interior Department officials, because there are some interplays there, and we would like to have some of the resource people, at least, to be able to answer some questions.

Mr. Secretary, I wouldn't think we would want to keep you waiting here during that portion. And I do not know what Chief Peterson's problems may be, but I would hope that certainly Mr. Sandor could stay, and possibly other people.

Mr. CROWELL. We can accommodate that request readily, Mr. Chairman. Chief Peterson is going to be leaving for Europe tonight to chair an international forestry commission meeting in Rome next week, so we can't impinge on his schedule too much today.

Mr. SEIBERLING. We have only this advice: When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

Mr. CROWELL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. SEIBERLING. Thank you very much. I would, first, like to ask the other members if there are any opening remarks they care to make.

Mr. Weaver?

Mr. WEAVER. No, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. SEIBERLING. All right. We will then move along.

[Prepared statement of Hon. John B. Crowell may be found in appendix I under date of April 30, 1982.]

STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN B. CROWELL, JR., ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, ACCOMPANIED BY R. MAX PETERSON, CHIEF, FOREST SERVICE, AND JOHN SANDOR, REGIONAL FORESTER FOR REGION 10, ALASKA

Mr. CROWELL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I appreciate the opportunity to brief the committee on the Department of Agriculture's progress toward implementation of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. As you have already noted, I am accompanied by R. Max Peterson, Chief of the Forest Service, and John Sandor, Regional Forester for region 10, which is Alaska.

In the interest of time, I will not try to cover every item in the act with which the Department is or has been involved.

Mr. SEIBERLING. No.

Mr. CROWELL. Rather, I will limit my prepared remarks to some of those items in the act of major significance or those with especially critical timeframes. I also intend to summarize the statement, which otherwise I would ask be printed in full in the record. Mr. SEIBERLING. The entire statement will be printed in the record, and you may proceed.

Mr. CROWELL. I have also provided to the committee a detailed Alaska Lands Act implementation plan and status report which lists all items in the act for which the Department of Agriculture

has the responsibility or involvement. The implementation plan and status report is current as of April 16, 1982.

One of the first sections of ANILCA deals with mapping descriptions and acreage calculations of lands affected. The maps of the 14 wilderness areas, as designated in the act, have been completed. Mapping for the national forest additions is finished and net acreage calculations are being completed.

Management plans are now being developed for the two national monuments which were established by the act. The draft of the Admiralty Island Monument plan is scheduled for completion in May 1982, while the draft plan of Misty Fiords National Monument is to be completed by January 1983.

The act specifically addresses the United States Borax and Chemical Corp. molybdenum claims at Quartz Hill within the Misty Fiords National Monument and the Noranda Mining Co.'s claims in the Green Creek area of Admiralty Island National Monument, both within the Tongass National Forest.

Under section 503(h)(2) of the act, a final analysis of the proposed United States Borax mining operation was issued September 1, 1981. It was on schedule.

Under section 503(h)(3) of the act, an environmental impact statement is required which covers an access road for bulk sampling purposes and the bulk sampling phase proposed by United States Borax in the Quartz Hill area. The final environmental impact statement is scheduled for release in early July of this year. For the Green Creek area and the Noranda claims on Admiralty Island, an environmental impact statement is planned for release in June 1982.

Cooperative fisheries planning for the Tongass and Chugach National Forests will be accomplished through regional comprehensive plans for the major fisheries regions of the State. The planning process is being accomplished by regional planning teams consisting of State and regional aquaculture association representatives appointed by the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Based on the regional comprehensive fisheries plans, 5year action plans for the national forests are being developed that will be incorporated into the forest plans following the National Forest Management Act planning process. The action proposed will list priority enhancement projects such as fish ladders and lake fertilization.

Section 604 of the act dealt with wild and scenic rivers. A draft of the Situk Wild and Scenic River study and report was released for public review on April 15. The study was conducted by an interdisciplinary team which included representation from the Forest Service and the State of Alaska's Department of Fish and Game. Completion of the final document is anticipated in the fall of this year.

As you are aware, major provisions of the act provided for designation of 5.4 million acres as wilderness in the Tongass National Forest. A wilderness management policy for the Alaska region has been drafted and is presently under internal review by the Forest Service.

The Alaska Lands Act also designated a 2 million acre Nellie Juan-College Fiord Wilderness study area in the Chugach National