45 



Completion of the project will result in the legal 

 protection, ecological restoration, and enhancement of wildlife 

 use of the Mad Island Marsh system. Numerous species, including 

 federally-listed species such as the Piping Plover, Peregrine 

 Falcon, Wood Stork, and Brown Pelican utilize the area. In 

 addition, the system will benefit numerous other species 

 including wintering Snow Geese, Canada Geese, Greater White- 

 fronted Geese, and a variety of ducks. To date, 'approximately 

 $1,725,000 in Act funds have been awarded to this project with 

 partnership matches exceeding $2,275,000. These dollars are 

 resulting in the permanent protection of more than 7,000 acres, 

 with thousands of acres being enhanced and restored. 



A second outstanding project funded under the Act is Llano 

 Seco Rancho in California. Also known as the Parroct Ranch 

 project, this nationally significant site provides habitat for 

 extraordinary concentration of migratory and resident waterfowl. 

 There, the Conservancy joined forces with the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service, the California Department of Fish and Game, The Wildlife 

 Conservation Board and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation 

 to purchase fee and highly restrictive easements to restore 

 thousands of acres to original wetland and forest habitat. The 

 purchase price in excess of $13,000,000 for over 14,000 acres was 

 funded with $3,000,000 in Act dollars and $10,654,750 in 

 partnership dollars. A truly wonderful example of partnership 

 and the ability of the Act to leverage dollars. 



Although I believe the Act is basically sound as currently 

 written, I would like to suggest one substantive change that I 

 believe would increase the Council's ability to fund projects in 

 Mexico. Currently only U.S. non-Federal funds may be used to 

 match projects whether the projects are in the United States, 

 Mexico or Canada. This requirement has proved to be burdensome 

 for Mexican projects because other programs, such as U.S. AID, 

 often offer substantially higher matches for U.S. dollars. 

 Accordingly, it is difficult for Mexican projects to contribute 

 the requisite U.S. non-Federal matching share. I believe an 

 amendment to Section 8(b) of the Act, to allow the currently- 

 required non-Federal U.S. match to come from cash contributions 

 from non-U. S. sources, would help alleviate this problem and 

 encourage participating Mexican nongovernmental organizations to 

 become more self-sufficient. 



A second area that needs to be addressed concerns 

 implementation of the current Act. The Act specifically states 

 that the Council shall recommend "wetlands conservation projects" 

 to the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission and that such 

 projects will be for "long-term conservation." Although the Act 

 does not specifically define the term "long-term conservation," 

 the legislative history is clear that the strong preference is 



