NATIONAL FOREST TO GAIN LAND FOR HABITAT PROTECTION

                                              Release No. 0028.97

Media Advisory                        Jim Petterson  202-720-4623
                                      Sarah McCourt  202-720-7173


NATIONAL FOREST TO GAIN LAND FOR HABITAT PROTECTION

     WASHINGTON, Feb. 3, 1996--Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman will
officially accept more than 64,000 acres of wildlife habitat impacted by the
Exxon Valdez oil spill from the Chenega Corporation, an Alaskan Native Village
corporation.  A majority of the land will be added to the Chugach National
Forest, managed by the USDA Forest Service, and a portion will be managed by
the State of Alaska.  This land acquisition is a part of the restoration
efforts underway using Exxon Valdez oil spill settlement funds to restore
habitat in the spill area.

     The signing ceremony will be held on Wednesday, February 5, at 11:00
a.m. at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Jamie Whitten Federal Building
patio, located at 1400 Independence Avenue, SW.  Agriculture Secretary Dan
Glickman, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, Alaska Governor Tony Knowles,
Agriculture Under Secretary Jim Lyons, Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck and
Chuck Totemoff of Chenega Native Corporation will participate in the ceremony
and will be available to the media after the signing.

     The land USDA will acquire includes some of the most heavily impacted
land affected by the 1989 oil spill.  Twelve animal species injured by the
spill are found in the area, including five species that have yet to recover
from the spill damage:  harbor seals, harlequin ducks, marbled murrelets,
pigeon guillemots and sea otters.

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