Conservation Funding Bill Moves Closer to Enactment
Izaak Walton League

Not since enactment of the Pittman-Robertson and Dingell-Johnson bills - which have provided federal aid for fish and wildlife for more than 60 years - or the 1963 passage of the Land and Water Conservation Fund has there been legislation of this magnitude and importance to the nation's natural resources," said James A. Mosher, conservation director of the Izaak Walton League.

Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, chairman of the House Resources Committee, and ranking member Rep. George Miller, R-Calif. are to be commended for their bipartisan and persistent efforts in crafting this landmark bill.

Reps. Billy Tauzin, R-La.; Bruce Vento, D-Minn.; Tom Udall, D-N.M.; Chris John, D-La.; John Dingell, D-Mich.; and Richard Pombo, R-Calif.,are also to be commended for their contribution to this effort.

Passage of the Conservation and Reinvestment Act (CARA) is a top priority of the League's membership," said Paul W. Hansen, executive director of the Izaak Walton League. "Our members have waited for decades for the promise of the LWCF, a program the League initiated, to be realized. CARA does that and much more."

Shame on us if we fail now to rise to this challenge and leave this landmark natural resource legacy for future generations," Hansen added.

CARA provides more than $2.8 billion from offshore oil and gas receipts each year for critical conservation needs. The compromise CARA bill - based on Rep. Young's H.R. 701, the Conservation and Reinvestment Act of 1999, and Rep. Miller's H.R. 798, the Resources 2000 Act - would direct:

1 billion toward impact assistance and coastal conservation for 35 coastal states and territories.

900 million for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which supplies funding for federal land acquisition and matching grants to states for parks, open space and other conservation needs.

350 million toward wildlife conservation and restoration through expansion of the highly successful federal aid programs.

125 million toward the Urban Park and Recreation Recovery program.

100 million toward the Historic Preservation Fund.

200 million toward federal and Indian lands restoration.

150 million toward permanent conservation easements ($100 million) and threatened and endangered species recovery ($50 million).

The League calls on Congress and the administration to follow through and enact this legislative initiative.

(posted November 12, 1999)
 

Lawsuit To Protect Last Wild Atlantic Salmon
Trout Unlimited

For both groups, the lawsuit represents a last resort attempt to save the United States' remaining wild Atlantic salmon runs from extinction.

This crisis has reached emergency levels," said Charles Gauvin, President and CEO of Trout Unlimited. "Last year, approximately 100 wild salmon returned to the seven rivers that are currently the focus of Maine's restoration effort."

The price of further delay is extinction, " said Bill Taylor, President of ASF. "Despite increased conservation efforts by the State of Maine, the number of wild salmon returning to their home rivers has dropped another 80% this decade. If this trend is not stopped, these runs will soon be gone forever."

Historically, an estimated 500,000 wild Atlantic salmon spawned in New England rivers each year. In 1998, an estimated 60-120 wild salmon returned to spawn in the seven Maine rivers that are the focus of the Maine Conservation Plan. That represents a decline of 99.9 percent. The increased rate of decline in the 1990s has been unexpected and alarming. Sean McCormick, a local angler and individual plaintiff in the suit, has witnessed the decline up close. "In the 1980's, you could see dozens of fish in one pool on the Sheepscot River; today you'd be thrilled to see one," said Mr. McCormick.

Responding to sharp declines in Maine's remaining wild salmon populations, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service declared Atlantic salmon a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act more than eight years ago. In lieu of a protection under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service accepted the State of Maine's Conservation Plan in 1997. For the past several years, both ASF and TU, along with their respective Maine Councils, have worked to implement and improve the Plan. ASF and TU members have fought for protective water withdrawal regulations, helped to build citizen watershed councils, and introduced legislation to strengthen the Maine Atlantic Salmon Authority.

The state of Maine must implement its salmon plan more aggressively and work with the federal government if Atlantic salmon are to be saved from extinction. In the Pacific Northwest, the listing of several depleted salmon stocks has resulted in a proposal for $100 million in federal funding going to the four states involved in the restoration effort. Those states are taking meaningful steps towards recovery instead of erecting roadblocks to recovery.

(posted August 12, 1999)