NORTH AMERICAN WETLANDS 

 CONSERVATION ACT REAUTHORIZATION 



WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 1994 



House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Envi- 

 ronment AND Natural Resources, Committee on 

 Merchant Marine and Fisheries, 



Washington, DC. 

 The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 11:05 a.m., in room 

 1334, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Gerry E. Studds 

 [Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding. 



Present: Representatives Studds, Lambert, Eshoo, Saxton, 

 Weldon, Gilchrest, and Taylor of North Carolina. 



Staff Present: Suzanne J. Waldron, Press Secretary; Daniel M. 

 Ashe, Staff Director; David W. Hoskins, Counsel; Marvadell Zeeb, 

 Subcommittee Clerk; Margherita Woods, Minority Clerk; Harry F. 

 Burroughs, Minority Staff Director; Cynthia M. Wilkinson, Minor- 

 ity Chief Counsel; Sharon McKenna, Minority Counsel, and Rich- 

 ard Russell, Professional Staff. 



STATEMENT OF HON. GERRY E. STUDDS, A U.S. REPRESENTA- 

 TIVE FROM MASSACHUSETTS, AND CHAIRMAN, SUBCOMMIT- 

 TEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES 



Mr. Studds. The Subcommittee will come to order. Note the 

 presence of our highly distinguished former member and Chair. 



Over the past 100 years, American attitudes about wetlands 

 have taken a 180-degree turn. A century ago, congressional com- 

 mittees concerned themselves with policies to "reclaim" our 

 swamps and bogs and potholes. In a classically anthropocentric 

 way, we wanted to make them "productive". It took the likes of 

 John Muir, Aldo Leopold, and Jay Norwood Darling to teach us 

 what the ducks, geese, plovers, herons, fish, crabs, and shrimp al- 

 ready knew. Wetlands are wondrously productive just as they are. 

 So now, congressional committees concern themselves with how to 

 conserve these great places that we call "wetlands". It is a big job 

 and we can only hope that our efforts are neither too little nor too 

 late. 



The Subcommittee meets this morning to review a program 

 which, by all appearances, has the hallmarks of unqualified suc- 

 cess — the North American Wetlands Conservation Act. Since its en- 

 actment in 1989, this law has spawned innovative public-private 

 partnerships which are protecting and restoring wetlands through- 

 out Canada, Mexico, and the United States. 



The Act is helping to reverse the disastrous trend in the decline 

 of our wetlands resources. In its relatively brief life span, 275 wet- 



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