89 



must focus on linking and securing and expanding the healthy 

 areas and habitats and bring in, eventually, the private landowners 

 and local communities to the process. 



As these rivers flow through private lands, we must generate 

 local jobs in restoration and other economic benefits to support 

 that. And we must also provide long-term funding for this strategy 

 because this is going to be a long-term process. 



To implement this in the Pacific Northwest, as has been dis- 

 cussed, we propose a Watershed and Salmon Habitat Restoration 

 Act. We believe, as you heard today, that the agencies are going 

 to change and do better under this administration. We applaud 

 that and support that. 



However, we believe that history shows us that the agencies may 

 not do everything that is needed, and administrations come and go. 

 Hopefully this administration, from my point of view, will be here 

 a long time. But nevertheless the watershed and the health of our 

 fisheries cannot be at the whim of the next political change or the 

 local district ranger who may decide to apply a specific administra- 

 tive procedure or not. 



We believe that these policies must be legislatively established to 

 make sure that thev exist to provide clear direction. This act that 

 we looked at, based on the stormproofing strategy of securing the 

 watersheds and treating the road systems, we believe, will create 

 7,000 to 11,000 family wage jobs, over $81 million of the total cost 

 of 156 million which we are projecting will be, in fact, in heavy 

 equipment work. 



So these will be family wage jobs that primarily will end up in 

 the rural communities. We want to make it clear, again, that the 

 sedimentation issue varies by watershed. The sediment delivery 

 rate from these road systems varies by watershed. So, con- 

 sequently, it is not just the roads that need to be looked at. We 

 need to look at reinserting woody debris into the system. Those are 

 all part of what the watershed level restoration strategy must be. 



In closing, we would like to say that, again, we support the ad- 

 ministration's and the agency's attempts to improve their policies. 

 But we believe that this will not really happen in an effective way 

 without the leadership of Congress and a demonstrated leadership 

 to the Pacific Northwest because Congress has acted affirmatively 

 to say that this is how the land will be managed in the future. 



Mr. Vento. Thank you. 



[Prepared statement of Mr. Doppelt follows:] 



