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NFWF Testimony - Page 3 



underwritten projects in 34 states, ranging from acquisitions and habitat restoration to initiating 

 public education and outreach projects. In total, Foundation grants have positively impacted more 

 than 1.6 million acres of critical wetiand habitat throughout the United States, Canada, and 

 Mexico. Today, the Foundation's focus is evolving towards an emphasis on grants that encourage 

 private landowners to protect and restore wetiand habitat. We have initiated statewide grant 

 programs in Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Texas to implement wetiand restoration programs witii 

 private landowners. 



Inland and Marine Fisheries Restoration: Among the growing list of imperiled vertebrates are our 

 native freshwater fishes and mussels. The Foundation is attempting to fundamentally change 

 fisheries management philosophies so that watersheds and habitats are Uie primary focus of 

 management attention. Consistent with this programmatic goal, we are funding the Bring Back the 

 Natives program with the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. In this program, for 

 the first time, entire riverine systems are managed for native species, especially systems where the 

 Forest Service and BLM have adjacent jurisdictions. There are now 47 different rivers or streams 

 in 15 states that are a part of the program, and it has become one of the most visible and 

 successful programs in both agencies. Other Foundation-sponsored restoration efforts not 

 officially part of the Bring Back The Natives project follow its model, such as the Blackfoot River 

 restoration in Montana, a project that involves tiie Fish and Wildlife Service. 



On the salt water side, the Foundation has been aggressively pursuing projects to revitalize our 

 marine fisheries. A good example is last week's successful negotiation to buy-out the West 

 Greenland NASCO high seas salmon fishery. For decades, restoration of AUantic salmon to New 

 England's rivers have been a conservation priority. It was an issue of paramount importance to 

 the late Silvio Conte, and tens of millions of dollars have been expended for this purpose. For the 

 past decade, despite major improvements in habitat and water quality, large numbers of fish have 

 not returned to spawn. This is due, in part, to tiie Greenland fishery which consumed hundreds of 

 tons of spawning salmon each August. The Foundation and its partners, tiie Department of State, 

 Atiantic Salmon Federation and Nortii Atiantic Salmon Fund (Iceland), have just purchased tiie 

 entire 1993 and 1994 NASCO adult spawning harvest from Greenland for $850,000. This 

 translates into a minimum annual return of an additional 88,000 adult fish to spawn in tiieir natal 

 rivers next spring. 



Partners in Flight: A classic example of what tiie Foundation can do in terms of forging 

 partnerships and practicing proactive management is our Partners in Flight program. Two years 

 ago conservationists were assailed with the news that neotropical migratory birds - that 

 assemblage of some 360 species tiiat nest in tiie U.S. and wmter soutii of our borders - have been 

 declining for up to two decades. The news was shocking not just because the declines were so 

 precipitous, but because the declines have been occurring right under our noses and no agency or 

 organization had come forward to respond. With characteristic speed, the Foundation designed 

 and implemented a comprehensive, multi-jurisdictional conservation plan that broke the cycle of 

 poor communication and lack of cooperation that has hampered non-game bird conservation for 

 years. The Partners in Flight program now includes 14 federal agencies, all 50 state fish and 

 game agencies, 29 conservation organizations and, perhaps most importantiy, the forest products 

 mdustry. TTiis is a proactive coalition emphasizing partnerships to get ahead of the endangered 

 species curve. Our latest newsletter on tiie program featiires 48 pages of successful partnerships 

 and on-the-ground conservation. It is conservation the way it ought to be done: targeted 

 specifically on the problem; encompassing public and private partners; witii actions implemented 

 before tiie species become intensive-care patients. A copy of tiie newsletter is included for tiie 



