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NFWF Testimony - Page 5 



considered important for federal agency biologists. Based on the success of our program, a full- 

 fledged national leadership training facility is being constructed in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia 

 for the Fish and Wildlife Service and other interested agencies. 



The Foundation is in good shape as we approach FY 1994. Secretary Babbitt has recognized that 

 the Foundation can play an invaluable role in marshalling additional resources for difficult 

 problems and bring people together to head off "train wrecks." For example, the Secretary 

 invited our assistance to address the restoration of the Everglades ecosystem which is one of his 

 top priorities. Secretary Babbitt has recommended a 50 percent increase in our federal funding, 

 from $5 million to $7.5 million. We are very pleased that the House Appropriations Committee 

 has concurred with this recommendation. 



The Committee should also be aware of another area where the Foundation has become very 

 active, namely as a repository for various dedicated conservation accounts. We have administered 

 or are now administering more than 21 special accounts set up at the request of the U.S. Fish and 

 Wildlife Service to handle restitution, mitigation and restoration projects. Ranging from 

 mitigation payments paid by water users as part of the Colorado River endangered fishes recovery 

 effort to court-ordered payments for shooting ducks over bait, these funds are in turn directed 

 back to conservation efforts on-the-ground. For example, several years ago the federal court in 

 Maryland named the Foundation as the trustee of a $1 million restitution fund, which was a fine 

 for a wetlands violation. We used this money to purchase a 500 acre inholding and a 200 acre 

 island in the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Working 

 with various state and federal agencies, the balance of these funds will be used for erosion control, 

 wetland restoration and creation, and other activities beneficial to the refuge and the Chesapeake 

 Bay. 



In addition, the Foundation was named the recipient for donations made to the Partnerships for 

 Wildlife Act ^.L. 102-587), which will be in turn matched by the states for worthwhile non-game 

 conservation activities. The Foundation is also being considered as a repository for funds from 

 the Department of the Interior's Central Valley Project (California) Restoration Fund that are 

 dedicated to water and land acquisition. 



Though not involving the use of any federal funds, another program of the Foundation is worthy 

 of mention. Every year, the Foundation uses private money to publish a series of fisheries and 

 wildlife assessments of federal natural resource agency budgets. Our staff travels to all the 

 regional offices of various agencies, talks to personnel and reviews existing programs. Based on 

 this review, we document, line-item by line-item, the programs of the agencies and what their real 

 needs are. We provide these assessments to members of Congress, especially those on the 

 Appropriations Committees, and the agencies themselves in hopes that they will bring about a 

 better understanding of the chronic funding shortfalls that exist for many fish and wildlife 

 programs Though I am uncertain of the credit we can claim, the budget of the U.S. Fish and 

 Wildlife Service has increased 79 percent since 1986 (the first year we published an assessment). 

 The USDA-Forest Service's Wildlife and Fisheries Program has increased 171 percent since 

 publication of the assessment. A major focus of our efforts today is on the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service (NMFS) which desperately needs assistance. 



Another function of the Foundation's Fisheries and WUdUfe Assessment is to turn successfiJ 

 prototype projects into mainstream programs within the agencies. Because we fund hundreds of 

 projects every year, we are in a good position to see what does and does not work. A number of 



