29 



Mr. VOLKMER. In terms of the fund, actually right now, what you 

 have right now to expend for the whole Nation; how much do you 

 have? 



Mr. Leonard. $65 million. 



Mr. VOLKMER. $65 million. Over the period of the Land and 

 Water Conservation Fund, we have only had around $900 million. 



That is all these years? 



Mr. Leonard. That is correct. 



Mr. VoLKMER. We are t£ilking about a $500 million acquisition. 

 This was our problem last year. I think it is going to be a problem. 

 Because what we are saying is, we will take all the money from 

 the Land and Water Conservation Fund, from one forest acquisi- 

 tion, and nobody else in the whole country gets a penny. 



We don't get anj^hing in Missouri. Nobody in any of the eastern 

 forests gets anjrthing, or anyplace else. All for the next 10 years is 

 going to go for this, and it almost takes 10 years to do it, correct? 



Mr. Leonard. Well, this would be added to the approximately $1 

 billion of backlog of Land and Water Conservation Fund acquisition 

 of property that the Congress has directed us to acquire. 



Mr. Volkmer. We have already up to $1 billion? 



Mr. Leonard. Yes. 



Mr. Volkmer. That is what I mean. So we have to put all that 

 aside and just do this; that is the problem. I don't know if the gen- 

 tleman from California recognizes that. 



Mr. Hamburg. Will the gentleman yield? 



Mr. Volkmer. The problem here is a money interest, not the in- 

 terest not to do it. I, for one, have always felt especially that the 

 Headwaters area, where everybody has agreed — I would love to be 

 able to acquire that and put it in the national forests; and there 

 is no problem with that, except I don't have the money. 



I would like to have a Mercedes-Benz, too, or a Rolls Royce; I 

 ain't got the money. 



So I mean, we have to face that fact unless you can find — in my 

 opinion, unless somebody can find an alternative source of funding 

 other than that Land and Water Conservation Fund, there isn't 

 any way to get this property. 



I yield to the gentleman from California. 



Mr. Hamburg. Thank you. Congressman Volkmer, I know that 

 you are familiar with the bill and the various funding mechanisms 

 that are discussed within the bill. It is surely not my belief that 

 the Land and Water Conservation Fund — could ever be the sole 

 source of revenue for this purchase, and that is why the bill men- 

 tions many different options that should be pursued. 



And although Mr. Leonard has said the administration does not 

 support the bill, I think the administration understands that the 

 bill is flexible in terms of offering many options for this acquisition; 

 and also that the administration, in supporting the goals and objec- 

 tives of this bill, resdizes that because of the very precarious state 

 of species that depend on this habitat, the failure to enact this kind 

 of bill will result in perhaps much more serious economic con- 

 sequences than would letting this process go forward and, over 

 time, effecting this transfer of ownership, so it is not — Harold, in 

 my belief, it is not as if we had the choice to do nothing, to just 



