array of watershed reference sites throughout the Pacific North- 

 west. It would establish watershed restoration projects as demon- 

 stration-sites for research and training. There would be the devel- 

 opment of training programs for the future professional stewards 

 of our resource base. There would be emphasis on watershed and 

 regional consensus building. There would be technical and policy 

 information transfer, and we would look toward the development of 

 new approaches to commodity extraction such as developing new 

 techniques for riparian silviculture. 



My final point is that there are substantial economic and social 

 benefits to managing rivers on a watershed basis and that these 

 benefits accrue directly to the human populations and to the envi- 

 ronment. Some of these would include, for example, the sustainable 

 harvest of native fish populations over the long-term and the devel- 

 opment of a sustainable riparian silviculture (one very much differ- 

 ent than what we practice on our uplands at the moment). 



There would be reduced litigation and downstream mitigation 

 and cleanup. There would be the development of specialty tree 

 crops for pulp and fiber such as genetic hybrids of Poplar. There 

 would be the export, either nationally or globally, of watershed res- 

 toration and management expertise and techniques. The rest of the 

 world needs this quite badly. There would be improvement to 

 human health through recreation, and there would be a sustained 

 ecological tourism industry. 



If we do not act now, we will stand to lose much of what makes 

 the Pacific Northwest unique. We will lose a significant aspect of 

 our region's sustainable economy, and the salmon of the Pacific 

 Northwest are the indicator of our watershed health. Thank you. 



[The prepared statement of Mr. Naiman can be found at the end 

 of the hearing.] 



Mr. Studds. Thank you very much, sir. Next, Dr. James Karr, 

 Director of the Institute for Environmental Studies also at the Uni- 

 versity of Washington. Dr. Karr. 



STATEMENT OF JAMES KARR, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR ENVI- 

 RONMENTAL STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, SEAT- 

 TLE, WASHINGTON 



Mr. Karr. Thank you and good morning, Mr. Chairman. Thank 

 you for inviting me to appear before this committee. Like rivers 

 throughout North America, the rivers of the Northwest have been 

 decimated in the last century. The degradation eclipses that of 

 other resources such as wetlands that have received far more at- 

 tention. An abundance of clean productive streams and riparian 

 corridors has been reduced to vestiges. Failure to reverse the trend 

 of aquatic degradation is unacceptable on legal, scientific, economic 

 and ethical grounds. 



A watershed can be considered healthy when its inherent poten- 

 tial is realized, its condition is stable, its capacity for self-repair 

 when perturbed is preserved, and minimal external support for 

 management is needed. By any of these criteria, the watersheds of 

 the Northwest cannot be considered healthy. Over 97 percent of 

 the naturally spawning salmon of the Columbia River have been 



