647 



September 25, 1993 



To: The Bonneville Power Administration Task Force of the House Natural 

 Resources Committee 



From: Paul Beistel, Board Chair of the Friends of Buford Park and Mt. Pisgah, 

 2805 University Street, Eugene, OR 97403 



Subject: The Wildlife Mitigation Fund budget 



At this time the Bonneville Power Administration has committed sixty-seven 

 million to wildlife mitigation projects in Montana, Idaho and Washington. We 

 understand that similar negotiations are now underway with Oregoa and these 

 are scheduled for completion by the end of this year or shortly thereafter. 



It now spears that BPA proposes to defer any further commitments from its 

 Mitigation nind until 1996 in order to ease pressure on its budget. This would 

 create an intolerable situation for Oregon in which the BPA would fund relatively 

 low priority projects in the three other states but would not fund urgent high 

 priority projects in Oregon. 



A case in point is the Mt. Pisgah acquisition adjacent to Springfield, Oregon. 

 BPA, NWPPL, and ODFW personnel give it high ranking in their preliminary 

 reviews. It is an old abandoned sand and gravel company ownership of 1200 acres 

 which was included as a key element in the 3500 acre Mt. Pisgah park approved by 

 the state legislature in 1973, but not purchased when appropriated funds were 

 exhausted on other adjacent ownerships. The owner is willing to sell. The Trust 

 for Public Lands is eager to negotiate a fair price and to purchase an opUorL 

 Unless the public agencies demonstrate their ability to move promptly on this 

 deal, the owners plan to convert the property to a golf course subdivision and an 

 RV park. They will not wait until 1996, and the public agencies will lose this 

 critical unit forever. 



In making whatever cuts in the BPA budget that may be necessary, the 

 estabUshed policies and procedures must provide equitable treatment for all four 

 states in order that critical acquisitions like the Mt. Pisgah project are not 

 irretrievably lost. 



We enclose news and editorial treatment of this issue by the Eugene Register 

 Guard. 



