Ill 



STATEMENT OF MICHAEL DENNIS 



GENERAL COUNSEL 



THE NATURE CONSERVANCY 



Before the House of Representatives 



Environment and Natural Resources Subcommittee 



of the 



Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee 



July 13, 1993 



Introduction 



Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee, good morning. I am Michael Dennis, 

 General Counsel for The Nature Conservancy. I appreciate the opportunity to appear before this 

 Subcommittee in support of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (Foundation) and the 

 reauthorization of its enabling legislation. 



The Nature Conservancy is an international non-profit conservation organization dedicated to 

 preserving the plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by 

 protecting the lands and water they need to survive. Over the past 43 years, we have made 

 significant advances toward this ambitious goal. We have helped protect over 6.9 million acres of 

 biologically significant land in the United States and we manage a system of 1,600 nature preserves. 

 We have made these advances thanks to the support of over 700,000 individual members, over 800 

 corporate associates, and through synergistic partnerships with other entities-both governmental and 

 non-governmental . 



It is the partnership theme that brings me here today in strong support of the Foundation and 

 its reauthorization. The mission of the Foundation is "to harness the energies and resources of both 

 the public and private sectors to plow investments into the field of fish, wildlife and plant 

 conservation." The Foundation is dedicated to making investments in nature by funding conservation 

 projects that safeguard natural resources. Projects vary in their scope, size and locality, but they all 

 have one thing in common: federal seed monies matched with non-federal challenge funds make them 

 work. 



Legislation establishing the Foundation, which resulted from the foresight of this Committee, 

 was passed by Congress in 1984. The Foundation's mandate is to work on behalf of the U.S. Fish 

 and Wildlife Service and other federal agencies-ranging from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

 Association to the Department of Defense-to forge creative partnerships with non-federal sectors 

 which include localities, states, corporations, non-profits, and other countries. The Foundation is 

 authorized to receive federal appropriations from Congress, to be used as seed money ("matching 



