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for The Nature Conservancy. I certainly appreciate the opportunity 

 to appear here today before the Subcommittee in support of the 

 National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the reauthorization of 

 its legislation. 



I could probably say the same things you said earlier, Congress- 

 man, ditto to what my colleagues have said. But I got my hair cut, 

 and I got dressed up today so I will make a few brief remarks 

 anyway to take advantage of it. 



The Nature Conservancy is a international nonprofit conserva- 

 tion organization, and we are primarily interested in preservation 

 of biological diversity. Over the past 40 years we have made signifi- 

 cant advances toward this goal. We have helped protect over 6.9 

 million acres of biologically significant land in the United States, 

 and we manage a nature preserve system of over 1,600 preserves. 

 We have done this through the support of over 700,000 members, 

 800 corporate associates but, most importantly, through partner- 

 ships with other entities, both private and public. 



It is the emphasis on the partnership theme that brings us here 

 today in strong support of the National Fish and Wildlife Founda- 

 tion. 



My colleagues have talked about the mission of the Foundation 

 and the legislative mandate under which they operate, but I would 

 like to emphasize one of the mandates under the legislation and 

 that is the matching requirements. A good partner brings money to 

 the table. A great partner brings money and encourages other 

 people to bring money to the table, too. 



I think it bears repeating what my colleague, Mr. Eno, said of 

 the $28 million in Federal funds that have gone into the program, 

 that has been expanded to over $90 million for conservation 

 projects, totaling 785 projects. From the point of view of The 

 Nature Conservancy in forging partnerships that is just an as- 

 tounding statistic. We are very proud to work with the Foundation. 



Mr. Eno has mentioned many of the initiatives ranging from 

 wetlands partnerships, the neotropical migratory bird project and 

 others. What I would like to do is mention a few of the projects 

 that we have worked on which demonstrate the success of this pro- 

 gram. 



Since 1988, we have been involved in 43 projects in 20 States in 

 the United States and in Mexico and Costa Rica with the Fish and 

 Wildlife Foundation. The $3.7 million in Federal funds that have 

 come through this program to The Conservancy have been matched 

 by $7.5 million of private funds. So we expanded that into $11.5 

 million worth of conservation projects. Most of these would not 

 have been accomplished without the National Fish and Wildlife 

 Foundation, not only the support but the leadership and expertise 

 in the association. 



A few examples — Congressman Ravenel left the room — but one 

 of the most important projects we have is the ACE Basin of South 

 Carolina. Between 1989 and 1991, the Foundation made grants in 

 excess of $400,000 which have been used for land acquisition, fund- 

 ing of a private landowner contact person and funding also the bio- 

 logical inventory of two of the huge plantations, Mary's Island and 

 the Cheeha-Combahee plantation. These were the building blocks 



