12 



that led to the protection of several hundred thousand acres in the 

 basin. 



We have been involved in projects up and down the coast in 

 Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. There is a multi-state partner- 

 ship program that conducted a survey of critical habitats. 



In New York, there was a $75,000 grant which funded the acqui- 

 sition, restoration and management of over 35,000 acres of wet- 

 lands in Montezuma, New York. 



Close to home. Chapter Point on the Nanticoke River, the Foun- 

 dation made a $250,000 grant which was matched with $750,000 

 from the State of Maryland which led to protection of over 1,500 

 acres of bald eagle habitat and also habitat for many species of mi- 

 gratory waterfowl. 



In Texas, at the Mad Island Marsh, the Foundation is a key part- 

 ner in a five-year, comprehensive program of habitat protection, 

 restoration and ecological management and land acquisition to pro- 

 tect over 10,000 acres of the Mad Island Marsh ecosystem. This is 

 typical of a project funded by the Foundation. It involves The 

 Nature Conservancy, Ducks Unlimited, North American Wetlands 

 Conservation Council, Dow Chemical, private landowners, the U.S. 

 Fish and Wildlife Service and several others. 



At the Parrott Ranch in California, the Foundation was a pivotal 

 player in the acquisition of 18,000 acres of wetlands which support 

 an abundance of waterfowl and other wetland species. Once again, 

 this involved all the partners mentioned above. 



I see the yellow light is on, and I will close with a couple of quick 

 comments. 



First of all, we feel that the Foundation has forged and jump- 

 started many creative partnerships since its inception in 1984 and 

 should be commended for that and should continue to do the same 

 type of work. 



Secondly, the leveraging of $28.5 million into $90 million. We 

 cannot overstate how impressive that is, being a private sector or- 

 ganization, to leverage money like that is almost unheard of on a 

 two-to-one basis. 



Finally, we would like to emphasize that we strongly support the 

 reauthorization of the legislation. We strongly support the amend- 

 ments that have been suggested. We support the $25 million a year 

 authorization level, bringing NO A A in as a specified agency for co- 

 operative projects and perhaps most importantly expanding the 

 board from 9 to 15 Members. 



The board of The Nature Conservancy is critical to its funding 

 success. We would like to emphasize the importance of expanding 

 the board of the Fish and Wildlife Foundation. They are lean, cost- 

 effective. They operate in a nonpartisan way, nonlitigious. They 

 bring to the diverse organizations and groups with outstanding re- 

 sults. The Foundation deserves full support and the continued con- 

 fidence of the Committee. 



I thank you for this opportunity to testify today and would like 

 to submit my written comments for the record. 



Mr. HoCHBRUECKNER. Thank you, Mr. Dennis. Yes, all of your 

 comments will be officially entered into the record. 



Thank you. 



[The statement of Mr. Dennis may be found at end of hearing.] 



