592 



that is too many. And if we can avoid a listing, I think we are com- 

 pelled to do so. And I, for one, as Regional Director for the Fish 

 & Wildlife Service, have gotten the word from the Administration, 

 to work together with other federal agencies — I do not have to be 

 told three or four times. I understand what it means to work to- 

 gether and I pledge to you that I sure as heck will. 



Mr. LaRocco. Okay, thank you very much. 



Mr. F1,ENERT. Sure. 



Mr. LaRocco, Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank this panel. 



Mr. DeFazio. a minor question, but one that was on my list that 

 I wanted to get through to Mr. Pedde, is about water spreading. 

 We have discovered we have a fairly significant problem in Oregon 

 that has been revealed recently with water spreading in the 

 Umatilla basin and I am wondering, is that a problem out here? 



Mr. Pedde. It is a problem, not just in Oregon, but probably 

 throughout the West in various degrees in various States. Histori- 

 cally, putting water to good use; spreading it a little further, was 

 considered to be a desirable benefit. Ironically, the use of good con- 

 servation tools like sprinklers has helped perpetuate that, has 

 helped create it. In today's climate, that is not necessarily viewed 

 as a desirable use, in-stream flows and other things have a higher 

 priority. We have a problem to work on. I do not know how to tell 

 you to correct it yet at this point, other than we are going to try 

 to see if we can get a handle on it. 



Mr. DeFazio. Okay, then perhaps we will ask Mr. Beard what 

 he intends to do about that. 



Well, I want to thank everybody who participated. You know, it 

 was not as long as the Portland hearing where I had 21 witnesses 

 and we went for 10 hours. I think everyone was succinct, and we 

 were able to get through a lot of people. Not everybody who wanted 

 to testify got to testify, but we did our best to represent the range 

 of interests involved. The record will be held open for 2 more 

 weeks. Even after 2 more weeks, there is certainly likely to be con- 

 tinued consideration, not only by this task force but by Merchant 

 Marine & Fisheries Committee, the full Natural Resources Com- 

 mittee, the Senate, the courts. There will be lots of venues for peo- 

 ple to continue this discussion. Representing the district that has 

 been most impacted by the old growth spotted owl timber con- 

 troversy, I have just got to say that the rest of the region does not 

 want to experience the catastrophic dislocation that comes when 

 something ends up in the courts and under broad injunctions. I 

 have heard some willingness for people to try and cross a few old 

 lines and see if maybe they can revisit some of these issues and 

 work together a little bit more, and that will help contribute to bet- 

 ter solutions. 



Thank you very much, the task force is adjourned. 



Mr. LaRocco. Mr. Chairman 



Mr. DeFazio. The task force is not adjourned. We are in Mr. 

 LaRocco's district, and he has the concluding comment. 



Mr. LaRocco. Well, on behalf of the people of Idaho, I wanted 

 to thank you for bringing the task force to Idaho. Obviously if I had 

 my way we would probably be in three or four different venues in 

 this State to talk about this issue, but given the time constraints, 

 we held it here and brought people to Boise, which is not always 



