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The Bring Back the Natives program we started with the Forest 

 Service and the Bureau of Land Management. The Forest Service 

 tends to own the high ground, and the Bureau of Land Manage- 

 ment usually picks up the lower ground as the river goes toward 

 the sea. 



For the first time, we got them to start managing whole 

 stretches of river, 30 miles, 60 miles, 70 miles and often with many 

 other partners like the Fish and Wildlife Service, the State agency, 

 Trout Unlimited, et cetera, with the aim of restoring the native 

 fishery. Very often, hatcheries are returning genetically imperfect, 

 weaker stocks, weaker fish, and they compete for food. But the 

 long-term consequences — and the jury is not totally out — but there 

 is enough information on the table to show that very often hatch- 

 ery fish may be further complicating and creating more deleterious 

 problems for your native fishery than they are solving. 



So our Bring Back the Natives — I don't have the map, but I can 

 provide it — includes several California rivers. We are bringing an- 

 other grant to our Board in two weeks, I believe, specifically target- 

 ing restoration of salmon in northern California, and we have done 

 several other grants in your district. 



Mr. Hamburg. Well, let me just say that I heartily support your 

 efforts. 



And as you were talking I was also wondering if you have been 

 involved at all in the situation around Dunsmuir where we had the 

 sodium spill at the Kantara Loop and we lost all the native fish, 

 and there was a controversy whether to restock with hatchery fish 

 or bring back the natives. 



The railroad company. Southern Pacific, has of course been 

 saying we can restock as part of the Sacramento and that will 

 bring back the tourism industry. But there is an awfully strong 

 movement in California saying, even if we have to wait a little 

 longer it is important to get the fish that belong in this stream re- 

 covered and restored. 



Mr. Eno. We are not, to my knowledge, involved in Dunsmuir at 

 this point. 



I want to stress if you have something or a project you think we 

 ought to be involved in, pick up the phone. 



To give you an example, two years ago I was up at Orvis, and the 

 Orvis people had just come back from assisting in making Robert 

 Bedford's movie that was supposed to be filmed in the Blackfoot. 

 They did not actually film the Blackfoot because it was in such de- 

 graded state. Bedford's producer and Orvis came to us and said, is 

 there any way we can work on restoration of the Blackfoot? 



Basically, we responded — within a month-and-a-half time, we 

 cobbled together the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, 

 Fish and Wildlife, the State of Montana, the local Trout Unlimited 

 chapter that took the lead in organizing local participants and we 

 gave about a $500,000 grant for cleaning up and restoring the 

 upper five reaches of the Blackfoot for the first on-the-ground 

 effort to attempt restoration of that entire drainage system. That 

 project is ongoing. 



Mr. Hamburg. Well, I really congratulate you for your efforts 

 and thank all the panelists for coming this morning. 



Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



