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Federal land management agencies, require that they get coordi- 

 nated and aligned together, and require that they identify and pro- 

 tect the key remaining habitats on Federal lands and to implement 

 landscapewide riparian protections. That would be step one. We 

 need a whole new Federal land riverine management act in this 

 country that would apply to Federal lands across the country to 

 protect watersheds and riverine systems, and I think we can begin 

 in the Northwest by setting a precedent for that. 



Step two, I think, would be that we need leadership from Con- 

 gress to pull together all the different agencies involved with river- 

 ine systems across the Northwest and, indeed, nationwide. I think 

 a strategic Federal watershed restoration initiative, in fact, is 

 needed across the country, not just in the Pacific Northwest. This 

 is going to require, I think, one department to coordinate and align 

 the policies and to get everyone marching down the same direction. 

 I think those would be the two things I would focus on. 



Mr. Studds. That is an easy start. The good news, obviously, is 

 that the new Secretary of Interior is thinking along those lines. I 

 suspect he would know which department it ought to be to coordi- 

 nate that, but as you probably know, he is initiating an effort to 

 develop a biological survey patterned after the geological survey. 

 We have to be introducing legislation very soon which takes very 

 much the approach you were talking about, toward whole systems, 

 but there are a myriad of Federal agencies, as you well know, who 

 each have a little piece of this. Anyone else want to respond to that 

 question? 



Mr. Naiman. I would also like to suggest something along the 

 same lines. You know, it has come up around this table as well as 

 in other hearings and other activities that we have been involved 

 in, but it is the real need for a regional initiative, that the issues 

 are certainly too large and complex for any single agency or any 

 single group. These issues transcend political boundaries wherever 

 we go. 



And there is another part of this. If we do come up with a region- 

 al initiative, there are a couple parts I think are especially impor- 

 tant — one is that you should probably initially keep it small to 

 bring together the best of the best people in a think tank to pro- 

 vide a comprehensive strategic planning. If we try to include every- 

 body at once, it is going to a problem right from the outset. 



The second part is equally important — that is, as we move into 

 the future, we have need to understand how to integrate environ- 

 mental and human issues. We simply do not know how to do this 

 despite what agencies and other groups say. We simply do not 

 know how to reach levels of sustainability whereby we take care of 

 the people in our communities and at the same time provide a 

 healthy environment for the long-term. And whatever this initia- 

 tive is, it has to integrate both of those elements, and it has to inte- 

 grate them at a very fundamental level. 



And if there was anything that I would do first before attempt- 

 ing to restore the streams and rivers, it would be to have a rela- 

 tively small and select group of people with vision and innovation 

 to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the situation. 



Mr. Studds. Thank you. Dr. Karr? Dr. Higgins, go ahead. 



