lands projects in 36 States, Canada, and Mexico have been funded 

 with 105 miUion Federal dollars and 202 million matching dollars 

 from State and local agencies, environmental organizations, and 

 private industry. As a result, more than 1.2 million acres of wet- 

 lands have been saved in the United States and Canada alone. 



Simply put, this law appears to work. Because of that record, I 

 joined several of my colleagues, including our distinguished first 

 witness, in introducing legislation, H.R. 4308, to reauthorize the 

 Act for 6 years and to significantly increase its annual authoriza- 

 tion levels. This morning we will hear testimony about this bill, 

 about the role of this program in the conservation of wetlands 

 ecosystems, and whether there is any need for legislative changes 

 to enhance the Act's effectiveness. 



I am particularly proud and pleased to welcome my distinguished 

 predecessor of this chair and a gentleman from whom I have 

 learned more than it would be appropriate to put upon the record. 

 May I say that the transition to an old bull is a difficult one under 

 any circumstance, and there are those that have observed I have 

 made great progress with regard to bull and am making striking 

 strides with regard to the older part. 



In any event, it is a delight and honor to welcome you back, the 

 father or grandfather, depending on one's own perspective, of many 

 of the statutes that this Committee is charged with protecting. 



The gentleman from Pennsylvania. 



STATEMENT OF HON. CURT WELDON, A U.S. REPRESENTATIVE 

 FROM PENNSYLVANIA, AND RANKING MINORITY MEMBER, 

 SUBCOMMITTEE ON OCEANOGRAPHY, GULF OF MEXICO, 

 AND THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF 



Mr. Weldon. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I also welcome our 

 distinguished witness. And I would also like to thank you, Mr. 

 Chairman, for your quick response in terms of bringing this legisla- 

 tion forward to this Committee. 



As the lead Republican sponsor of H.R. 4308, the North Amer- 

 ican Wetlands Conservation Fund Reauthorization, let me begin by 

 thanking everyone that has been involved with this very successful 

 program. Since the inception of the NAWCF, you have been one of 

 the strong supporters, Mr. Chairman, of the program and have con- 

 tributed greatly to its success. 



I want to take this opportunity to thank Chairman John Dingell i 

 for producing H.R. 4308 and for all of his years of service to the 

 cause of waterfowl habitat protection. 



The NAWCF is the result of the efforts of the late Congressman 

 Conte and Chairman Dingell. Congressman Conte and Chairman 

 Dingell served as the two Representatives of the House of Rep- 

 resentatives on the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission and 

 through their work on the MBCC, they are directly responsible for 

 the preservation of much of North America's most important water- 

 fowl habitat. 



As the newest member of the MBCC, I had a chance earlier this 

 year to help celebrate Chairman Dingell's twenty-fifth year on the 

 Commission. For a quarter century. Chairman John Dingell has 

 worked tirelessly to expand and enhance the National Wildlife Ref- 

 uge system to protect critical waterfowl habitat. 



