My name is Marilyn Blair and I am the President of the Board of Directors of Cape Fox Corporation, the Native Corporation for the Village of Saxman and we need your help.

Unlike other village corporations, Cape Fox has faced unique legal and geographic challenges that have impaired our economic success. No other village corporation in the state has had so much land denied from their original mandated selection area. As a result of these restrictions, only the mountainous northeast corner of Cape Fox’s core township, which is of no economic value, was available for selection. We were compelled to select acres of marginal land, which had already been logged and we were forced to forego other economic opportunities that would have been available had we been treated like everyone else.

The village of Saxman has 431 residents and the unemployment rate is over 25%. Job creation is critical to the economic survival of our families. Cape Fox Corporation is instrumental in developing jobs for our village and these past inequities have denied Cape Fox the capital it so desperately requires to promote economic development. Now, when it seems a common sense solution has finally been developed to help us, we are being accused of not being able to be good stewards of the land that our people have managed for thousands of years.

These accusations are being made by people who, when they leave this room, will pretend to care about our people, our culture and our lands, but they refuse to let us help ourselves. We are not cultural museum pieces; we are families struggling to earn a living, but we will become museum pieces if you do not let us earn a living off of our lands.

This solution is fair. It has taken years to get to this point. We have listened to all of the stakeholders and worked hard to incorporate their concerns into this legislation. In fact, I wonder if any other private landowner in this room would be so accommodating with their own back yards.

Here is really what this legislation is all about and why it is fair to all concerned:

We have a responsible economic partner in Coeur Alaska. They have received 19 major national and international environmental awards since 1987.

This is a mining district and has been for well over a hundred years since gold was first discovered in 1886. This land exchange is not going to change that fact. It will continue to be a mining district.

This project makes economic sense for the whole area. Our fishing industry is gone. Our timber industry is gone. This project will add 225 direct high paying jobs for our people and other people in the area at a payroll cost of $16 million. It will also create up to 180 indirect jobs, and add an additional tax base. Construction alone will inject over $150 million into the economy. Coeur has already invested over $22 million at the site on environmental studies and permitting.

Cape Fox has a long established reputation for responsible private lands management and has always worked with public agencies to provide access when it made sense. This legislation provides reasonable access through buffers and easements.

This exchange does not include any land within the Berners Bay LUD II recreational area. Concerns about massive clear-cutting near Berners Bay are totally unfounded. This is emotional manipulation, nothing more. There is very little commercial timber on the land to be exchanged. This legislation even protects the view-shed. This is an equal value exchange. No manipulation of the numbers by opponents to this legislation will change that. We will give value for value received. In doing so we will be able to earn an economic return from our lands and the Forest Service will get lands and recreational easements that they think are important for their management of the Tongass.

You have the culmination of years of hard work in front of you. It is fair. It is reasonable. It makes sense. Nobody is getting something for nothing. We are not asking for a hand-out. We are asking you to let us help ourselves create a better life for our families, that’s all.

Thank you.