10 



So I think that that speaks to your first question about the effec- 

 tiveness of the Foundation. It has been very effective. The Founda- 

 tion served another very important role in tracking money, draft- 

 ing memorandums of agreement and whatever between the differ- 

 ent States and different provinces and different groups, providing 

 services that government bodies had difficulty doing. That was a 

 very important function. 



As time went by, we have been able to take over those types of 

 duties, and the Foundation has moved to other areas. They are still 

 involved in the North American plan. 



Now to address your second question about how the Internation- 

 al believes we might increase effectiveness of the Foundation. 



I would like to use their neotropical bird initiative to address 

 that. This is their effort to deal with the declines that they see in 

 some bird populations. There is not a good management system for 

 neotropical birds in place in the United States. 



Many of the States have ignored the management of songbirds. A 

 lot of the non-game species have been ignored. We are becoming 

 aware that there are some declines in these populations. We are 

 aware that songbird abundance affects the quality of life on this 

 continent. We see a need to get heavily involved in the manage- 

 ment of these species, and there are no funds generally in most 

 States to do that. 



I think that the Foundation saw this decline ahead of a lot of the 

 States. They began to hold the carrot out there to pull States and 

 the Federal Government and other organizations into initiatives 

 that address these declines. 



If you realize that we are talking habitat across 50 States and in 

 several countries we are going to need a mighty big carrot to lure 

 groups into problem solving management ventures. This is really 

 going to be difficult. You are going to have to cross State bound- 

 aries, deal with all the Federal land agencies, private land holders 

 and so forth. The Foundation has to be a key player in this. 



I simply make these points to illustrate that there is a massive 

 need for funding. $25 million may sound like a lot of money to us 

 in the conservation business but it is not. I would hope you fund 

 the Foundation at the highest level. That is one way we think the 

 Foundation's effectiveness could be improved. 



Another is that we support the inclusion of a State director on 

 their board of directors. We think that would be helpful as they do 

 a lot of business with States. 



We believe that you have good legislation. It is a good Founda- 

 tion. It is serving the purposes which it was designed to serve, and 

 we in the association are proud of its accomplishments. 



Mr. HocHBRUECKNER. Thank you, Mr. Myers. 



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



Mr. HocHBRUECKNER. We will here from Mr. Mike Dennis, Gen- 

 eral Counsel to The Nature Conservancy. 



STATEMENT OF MIKE DENNIS 



Mr. Dennis. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, good morning. 

 I am Mike Dennis. I am the General Counsel and Vice President 



