6 



I look forward to getting involved with a sensible wetlands policy 

 that protects private property rights and at the same time uses 

 real science instead of pseudoscience and hysteria in approaching 

 this issue. I will enjoy just working with our Chairman and Rank- 

 ing Member in trying to solve this problem. 



Mr. Studds. Are there further statements on this side? The gen- 

 tleman from California. 



STATEMENT OF HON. DAN HAMBURG, A U.S. REPRESENTATIVE 

 FROM CALIFORNIA 



Mr. Hamburg. Excuse me, Mr. Chairman, if I take a slightly dif- 

 ferent tack on this issue. Thank you for convening this hearing on 

 wetlands. The case for the need for a comprehensive review of our 

 wetlands policy could not have been made more dramatically than 

 the flooding this summer in the Midwest. 



Day after day, farmers, city dwellers, children, women, and men 

 faced a rising tide of water that swept away their homes, their 

 dreams and their livelihoods. The storage capacity that had been 

 provided from the wetlands had vanished. In the upper Mississippi 

 Valley, where the land was inundated with the inadequacy of our 

 wetland policy, a testimony to the need to revamp our wetlands 

 policies nationally. 



Our man-made laws must be realigned with our hydrological 

 laws. The health of our people, our communities and our futures 

 depends as surely as the survival and health of wetlands-dependent 

 species on a careful review of the role of wetlands. 



Competition between maintaining wetlands and converting wet- 

 lands for other use must be resolved in a new balance. The conse- 

 quences of the loss of wetlands is played out every day on stages 

 only slightly less dramatic than the flood in the Midwest this 

 morning. Historic wetlands in the upper reaches of the Klamath 

 River in my district, and in Oregon, and Northern California stored 

 hundreds of thousands of gallons of water that was released gradu- 

 ally in the hydrologic balance with the river to maintain water 

 flows throughout the year. Today those wetlands are gone. 



Today they are one of the most critical factors in the decline of 

 the river's salmon population, coho salmon as endangered through- 

 out the Pacific Southwest. Environmental train wrecks and mas- 

 sive inundation of our communities will surely continue unless we 

 align our policy to ensure reasonable use together with comprehen- 

 sive protection of our natural resources. 



I applaud this administration's commitment to approach the wet- 

 lands issues from the watershed perspective. The artificial lines of 

 property ownership are certainly as arbitrary and irrelevant to re- 

 solving wetlands issues as are the jurisdictional lines that histori- 

 cally have divided our Federal agencies. The commitment to inter- 

 agency cooperation is a key element of this promise and potential 

 of a new balanced wetlands policy for our country. 



Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Studds. The gentleman from Pennsylvania, Mr. Weldon. 



