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Mr. Chairman, members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the 

 opportunity to testify today. My name is Thomas Cassidy and I am 

 the General Counsel and Director of Federal Lands Programs for 

 American Rivers. American Rivers is a 20,000 member organization 

 committed to the protect and restore of the nation's outstanding 

 rivers. 



American Rivers has been intensively involved in the land 

 management planning efforts of the Forest Service and Bureau of 

 Land Management since 1986. Our efforts have primarily focused 

 on the planning for potential wild and scenic rivers. However, 

 in response to the precipitous decline of aquatic ecosystems in 

 the Northwest and across the nation, American Rivers has expanded 

 our mission to include programs designed to ensure the health of 

 aquatic ecosystems. 



In the Columbia/ Snake basin alone, historic runs of 16 

 million adult salmon now number fewer than 2 million, only a few 

 hundred thousand of which are wild. Over 200 native salmon 

 stocks in the Columbia basin are already extinct. More than 200 

 other native stocks are at risk of extinction. Salmon and 

 steelhead are an essential part of the life, culture and economy 

 of the Northwest. Even though salmon runs are disappearing at 

 alarming rates, they still support as many as 60,000 jobs and net 

 the regional economy as much as $1 billion annually. Sustainable 



