During the pulp mill era, the Forest Service prepared most timber sales for Alaska Pulp Corporation and Ketchikan Pulp Company. Not only did the pulp mills enjoy special contract privileges but, between 1959 and 1975, the two pulp mills violated antitrust laws by engaging in price fixing and collusive bidding practices. The subsidized pulp mills drove most small, independent milling and logging companies in Southeast Alaska out of business. Timber cut under the monopolistic long-term contracts was minimally processed into pulp or cants for overseas export. This created few local jobs for each tree cut. Today, with the pulp mills gone, local businesses can employ more people per tree cut—3 to 4 times as many as compared to the large-scale industrial timber industry—by high value products. The creation of more local jobs per board foot cut means that the region can sustain a healthy timber industry, and protect the forest resources important for other Tongass users.