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TESTIMONY OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON 



Presented to 



SUBCOMMITTEE ON FISHERIES MANAGEMENT 

 U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 



Regarding 



HR3787 

 CHEHALIS RIVER BASIN FISHERIES RESOURCE RESTORATION ACT 



As you know the State of Washington is facing a major challenge of watershed 

 protection and restoration to remedy degraded habitats, depleted fish and wildlife 

 resources, and water quality and quantity problems. These widespread problems, if 

 not resolved, directly threaten the quality of life for our citizens in economic, cultural 

 and social terms. Federal, state and tribal governments must take a lead role in 

 creating opportunities around these issues. Otherwise we virtually insure continued 

 reactive and intensely disruptive responses to federal and state laws and judicial 

 mandates like ESA rather than defining a brighter and more stable future for our 

 natural resources and the communities they support. 



The fact that we need federally supported watershed restoration can not be denied. 

 The question of what effective watershed restoration entails and how we collectively 

 define priorities is still subject to widespread public discussion. We are at a point of 

 creating a new strategic vision for the future that will direct long-term actions to protect 

 critical habitats and species communities. We are looking at the tip of the iceberg 

 when it comes to integrating restoration efforts across species within river basins or 

 ecosystems. But regardless of the size of the challenge, the solutions can not wait 

 any longer -- we must seize the opportunity now. 



The Chehalis Basin Fisheries Resource Restoration Act certainly represents a new 

 approach to this challenge. The State truly appreciates Representative Unsoeld's 

 untiring efforts on this legislation. Important first steps have been taken to identify the 

 problems affecting fisheries resources in the basin and important public involvement 

 activities have been incorporated into the planning process. We generally agree with 

 the goals, objectives and recommendations prepared by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

 Service within the context of a broad restoration vision. State, tribal, federal, and local 

 governments, along with various industry and publics, are at a point, however, where 

 a truly strategic plan for the future is needed. From a long-term stock management 

 and habitat perspective, we must define the framework of "where we need to go" and 

 what integrated strategies will lead us there. What measures are needed to insure that 

 we secure the future of healthy stocks and their critical habitats so that we can in fact 

 preserve and pursue additional options for recovering depleted habitats and stocks to 

 productive levels? 



The Chehalis Basin Restoration program can significantly benefit the fisheries resource 

 and associated economy if carefully tailored to address key problems that limit 

 production. This means a comprehensive program that integrates actions in the 

 harvest, production and habitat areas that are compatible with sound biological 

 principles designed to insure long-term stock health. The State and western 

 Washington treaty tribes have aeveiopea a statewide Wild Stock Initiative to create a 

 framework for and lead Washington watershed recovery efforts in a consistent and 

 successful manner. We would like to see federal involvement that is responsive and 

 supportive of this comprehensive effort, both region-wide and within the Chehalis basin 

 specifically. Within the Chehalis this means better integrating continued federal staff 

 and funding support into the strategic vision that the State and tribes are leading 

 development of in Washington. We must insure that actions taken with federal 

 investments are most effectively geared toward the balanced need of protecting 

 existing critical habitats and fish resources while looking for opportunities to recoup 

 the productive capacity of the basin where it has been impaired. We would like to see 

 federal funding support of a more effective state, tribal and federal partnership in the 

 Chehalis to both define and implement strategic actions to create and maintain healthy 

 aquatic resources and economies. 



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