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PANEL CONSISTING OF BOB DOPPELT, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, 

 PACIFIC RIVERS COUNCIL, EUGENE, OR; CHRIS FRISSELL, 

 OAK CREEK LABORATORY, OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY, 

 CORWALLIS, OR; PAT HIGGINS, THE NORTHWEST CHAPTER 

 OF THE AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY AND PACIFIC WA- 

 TERSHED ASSOCIATES, HUMBOLDT, CA; AND JOHN F. 

 PALMISANO, INDEPENDENT FISHERY SCIENTIST REP- 

 RESENTING NORTHWEST FOREST RESOURCES COUNCIL, 

 PORTLAND, OR 



Mr. Vento. Your statements, by previous request, have been 

 submitted and placed in the record; since we are under a Uttle time 

 constraint, if you will try to summarize your statements in about 

 five minutes. I won't keep a clock, because you might get done ear- 

 lier. But I think what you have got to say is important to the com- 

 mittee. And so we want you to nave adequate time so say it; but 

 if you could summarize it, it would help us. Dr. Doppelt, welcome. 



Mr. Doppelt. I have never been called Dr. Doppelt. I appreciate 

 it. 



Mr. Vento. We do a lot of things but not grant degrees. I am 

 sorry. 



STATEMENT OF BOB DOPPELT 



Mr. Doppelt. Thank you. I am the Executive Director of the Pa- 

 cific Rivers Council. I am going to shorten my comments today. I 

 appreciate Congressman Dicks and Mr. DeFazio's comment. They 

 say everything that we need to say. I will try to highlight the key 

 points. 



First of all, the proposal that we have made to Congress is the 

 result of a two-year-long project that involved scientists from across 

 the country and regional and local scientists to develop, to access, 

 the Nation's river protection and restoration strategies and policies 

 and to determine the strengths and weaknesses in those and to 

 propose alternatives. 



The end result of our major effort, which is now released in this 

 document, "Entering the Watershed: An Action Plan to Protect and 

 Restore America's Rivers Ecosystems and Biodiversity." Our con- 

 clusion is that, in fact, the Nation's river protection policies have 

 failed and that new restoration and protection policies are needed. 



This specifically addresses the Pacific Northwest where it is clear 

 that our river systems and our aquatic biodiversity, salmon in par- 

 ticular, have been depleted and new approaches are needed. Given 

 that, I want to make six key points, and then we can discuss the 

 rest in the question-and-answer. 



First I want to make it clear that the endangered salmon of the 

 Pacific Northwest are just symbolic of the range of river ecosystem 

 and biodiversity system problems and losses occurring across the 

 region. The crisis is not just with salmon but entire watershed 

 ecosystems. 



I can cite many examples of the riparian species and resident 

 fish populations that are at risk. It is not just anadromous 

 salmonids. The Northwest is in the midst of an unprecedented cri- 

 sis. 



Second, although the media has focused on the dams and some 

 studies that we may hear about later from this panel, and have 



